LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

Class 


lingerie  Ltbcs 

SIR   WILLIAM 
JOHNSON 


APPLETONS'  SERIES  OF 

HISTORIC     LIVES. 


Father  Marquette. 

By  REUBEN  GOLD  THWAITES,  Editor  of  "The 
Jesuit  Relations."  Third  Edition. 

Daniel  Boone. 

By  REUBEN  GOLD  THWAITES.    Third  Edition. 

Horace  Greeley. 

By  WILLIAM  A.  LINN,  for  many  years  Man 
aging  Editor  of  the  "  New  York  Evening 
Post." 

Sir  William  Johnson. 

By  AUGUSTUS  C.  BUELL,  Author  of  "Paul 
Jones,  Founder  of  the  American  Navy."  [In 
preparation.] 

Champlain. 

By  EDWIN  ASA  Dix.     [In  preparation.] 

Sam  Houston. 

By  Prof.  GEORGE  P.  GARRISON,  of  the  Univer 
sity  of  Texas.  [In  preparation.] 

Sir  William  Pepperell. 

By  NOAH  BROOKS.     [In  preparation.} 


Each  I2mo.    Illustrated.    $1.00  net. 
Postage,  10  cents  additional. 


D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY,  NEW  YORK. 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


SIR  WILLIAM  JOHNSON. 


3Mm0on 


BY 
AUGUSTUS  C.  BUELL 

Author  of  "  Paul  Jones,  Founder  of  the 
American  Navy" 


'  *  jN[ llustrated 
cr  rHE 

UNIVERSITY  jj 

OF 


NEW  YORK 

ant* 

1903 


mm 


COPYRIGHT,  1903 
By  D.   APPLETON   AND   COMPANY 


Published  June,  1903 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTKATIOSTS 


FACING 
PA  OB 

Sir  William  Johnson       ....        Frontispiece 

Sir  Peter  Warren 8 

Fort  Johnson,  near  Amsterdam,  N.  Y.   (from  a  recent 

photograph) 18 

Fort  Johnson,  near  Amsterdam,  N.  Y.  (from  an  eight 
eenth  century  print) 58 

King  Hendrick  of  the  Mohawks 146 

Joseph  Brant  .........     158 

From  a  portrait  in  oil  by  Romney 
The  battle  of  Lake  George 162 

King  Hendrick  and  Sir  William  Johnson     .         .         .200 
Bronze  statue  at  the  State  Park,  Lake  George 

Map  showing  Fort  Stanwix  treaty  line,  negotiated  by 

Sir  William  Johnson  in  1768 244 

vii 


OF 


SIR  WILLIAM  JOHNSON 


CHAPTER   I 

HIS   EARLY   LIFE   IN   IRELAND   AND   ON 

THE    MOHAWK 

1715-1748 

THE  year  1715  was  epochal.  It  witnessed 
the  end  of  one  great  chapter  in  the  history  of 
civilization  and  the  beginning  of  a  new  one  yet 
greater.  The  chapter  that  ended  then  was 
the  one  which  embraced  the  stubborn  and 
bloody  dynastic  wars  that  since  1672  had 
resulted  from  the  collision  between  the  stern, 
sullen  genius  of  William  of  Orange  and  the 
reckless,  unscrupulous  ambition  of  Louis 
XIV.  For  forty-two  years  war  had  raged 
everywhere,  broken  only  in  its  devastation  by 
such  brief  and  hollow  truces  as  Nimwegen 
and  Ryswick.  True,  William  died  in  1702, 
killed  by  the  stumbling  of  his  clumsy  charger 
just  at  the  threshold  of  a  new  campaign.  But 
during  the  thirteen  years  of  his  reign  as  King 
of  England  he  had  built  up  a  party  of  aggres 
sive  patriotism,  which  has  since  proved  the 

1 


Sir  William  Johnson 

founder  of  the  British  Empire  as  we  know  it 
to-day. 

For  twelve  years  after  William  died,  this 
party  under  the  reign  of  a  really  great  though 
rather  indolent  woman,  Queen  Anne,  carried 
forward  William's  projects  and  executed  his 
policies  with  no  less  vigor  and,  possibly,  with 
even  more  success,  than  he  himself  could  have 
done  alive.  I  have  seen  the  conflicts  of  Will 
iam  and  Louis  described  in  some  histories  as 
" religious  wars."  They  were  anything  but 
that.  They  were  dynastic  and  political  wars. 
William  may  be  called  the  inventor  of  the 
" balance  of  power."  He  was  the  originator 
of  coalitions.  The  England  that  he  took  from 
the  Stuarts  in  1689  was  an  insular  province 
near  the  coast  of  Europe.  The  England  that 
he  left  to  Queen  Anne  and  John  Churchill 
in  1702  was  the  prime  factor  in  Europe, 
and  the  last  vision  that  faded  before  his 
dying  eyes  was  the  dawn  of  the  British 
Empire. 

It  is  a  strange  fact  that,  with  all  her  wealth 
of  literature,  England  has  no  thorough  history 
of  her  greatest  modern  king!  A  few  great 
soldiers  have  been  born  to  the  purple  since  the 
dark  ages — Gustav  Adolf,  Charles  XII,  Peter 
of  Russia,  and  Frederic  of  Prussia.  But  no 
man  of  royal  birth  has  ever  combined  the  sol- 


His  Early  Life  in  Ireland 

dier  and  the  statesman  as  William  did.  It 
may,  perhaps,  be  fortunate  for  England  that 
the  task  of  carrying  William's  statecraft  into 
complete  execution  passed  by  legacy,  as  it 
were,  from  his  hands  into  those  of  Marlbor- 
ough ;  for  the  Great  Duke  was  a  greater  man 
than  even  the  Great  King.  And  in  all  human 
probability  the  commander  who  won  Blen 
heim  and  Malplaquet  was  a  safer  instrument 
of  destiny  than  the  king  who  lost  Steenkerke 
and  Neerwinden. 

The  year  1715  witnessed  the  end  of  Louis 
XIV's  long  and  turbulent  reign  and  the  acces 
sion  of  Louis  XV  to  the  Bourbon  throne 
under  the  regency  of  the  able  and  dissolute 
but  peaceful  Duke  of  Orleans.  It  also  marked 
the  permanent  solution  of  dynastic  chaos  in 
England  by  the  installation  of  the  sturdy, 
and,  in  the  long  run,  conservative,  House  of 
Hanover. 

But  more  important  than  any  or  all  of 
these  events,  so  far  as  the  destinies  of  the 
Western  Hemisphere  were  concerned,  was 
the  fact  that  in  1715  began  a  period  of  peace 
that  lasted  a  generation,  during  which  the 
Anglo-Saxon  colonies  along  the  Atlantic  slope 
found  opportunity  for  that  development  of 
resource  and  unity  which,  forty-five  years 
later,  enabled  them  to  expel  Latin  power  from 

3 


Sir  William  Johnson 

North  America,  and,  sixty  years  after,  to  cre 
ate  our  Republic. 

It  seems  fittingly  coincident  that  this 
epochal  year  of  1715  should  have  been  the 
birth-date  of  a  boy  destined  to  play  a  colossal 
part  in  the  new  era  then  at  its  dawn.  He  was 
the  son  of  Christopher  Johnson  and  his  wife, 
Anne  Warren,  and  he  first  saw  light  at  War- 
renpoint,  County  Down,  Ireland.  I  have  seen 
in  a  so-called  Life  of  Sir  William  Johnson, 
printed  in  Canada  about  sixty  years  ago,  the 
statement  that  his  father  was  "  an  obscure 
Irish  schoolmaster,  and  a  cripple ! "  It  is 
possible  that  in  his  younger  days  Christopher 
Johnson  may  have  taught  school.  But  from 
1692  till  1708  he  was  an  officer  in  a  regiment 
of  heavy  cavalry,  then  known  as  Cadogan's 
Horse — a  regiment  that  has  maintained  con 
tinuous  organization  more  than  two  hundred 
years,  and  is  now  the  Fifth  Kegiment  of 
Dragoon  Guards  in  the  British  Army. 

In  1715,  when  his  son  William  was  born, 
Mr.  Johnson  held  the  post  of  local  magis 
trate  for  the  bailiwick  of  Carlingford,  to 
which  he  was  appointed  in  1709  as  a  reward 
for  long  and  faithful  service  under  King  Will 
iam  and  Marlborough.  He  was,  indeed,  "  a 
cripple"  at  that  time,  as  the  Canadian  biog 
rapher  says.  But  his  physical  disability — a 

4 


His  Early  Life  in  Ireland 

bent  and  withered  leg — was  honorable,  be 
cause  it  was  due  to  a  French  bullet  that  hit 
him  in  the  famous  charge  of  Lord  Cadogan's 
Cavalry  Brigade  at  Oudenarde — a  charge 
that  needed  only  a  Tennyson  to  make  it  im 
mortal.  Whether  he  was  "obscure"  or  not 
is  hardly  worth  discussion.  At  any  rate,  he 
held  a  social  rank  that  enabled  him  to  marry 
Anne  Warren,  daughter  of  a  commodore  and 
sister  of  an  admiral  in  the  British  navy. 

If  there  is  anything  congenital  in  the  mar 
tial  spirit,  it  may  be  that  the  wonderful  mili 
tary  talents  subsequently  developed  by  Will 
iam  Johnson  were  transmitted  to  him  from  the 
loins  of  the  veteran  of  the  wars  in  Flanders, 
who  could  count  his  battles  from  Namur  to 
Oudenarde.  So  when  his  young  wife — "Mis 
tress  Nancy"  as  the  society  dialect  of  those 
days  had  it — presented  a  bouncing  boy  to  the 
veteran  of  Flanders,  the  father  named  him 
after  the  old  fighting  king  who  had  been  his 
commander  at  Namur.  Of  William's  child 
hood  and  youth  there  is  scanty  record.  In 
May,  1726,  his  uncle,  Admiral  Warren,  makes 
the  following  entry  in  his  diary,  or,  as  he 
called  it,  his  "log  ashore": 

.  .  .  Visiting  me  Mistress  Nancy  Johnson,  with 
her  Young  Son,  William,  aged  eleven.  William  is 
a  Spritely  Boy,  well  grown,  of  good  parts,  Keen 

5 


Sir  William  Johnson 

Wit  but  Most  Onruly  and  Streperous !  I  see  in  him 
the  Makings  of  a  Strong  Man.  Shall  keep  my 
Wether  Eye  on  this  lad ! 

The  importance  of  the  old  sea-dog's 
"wether  eye"  as  a  factor  in  his  nephew's  for 
tunes  will  appear  later  on. 

When  William  was  fourteen  the  usual 
family  consultation  was  held  to  determine 
what  should  be  done  with  him.  The  consen 
sus  of  domestic  opinion  was  that  he  should 
be  what  they  called  in  those  days  "the  King's 
Own."  That  meant  either  the  army  or  the 
navy.  But,  to  the  amazement  of  every  one, 
the  youngster  declared  that  he  had  made  up 
his  mind  to  study  law  and  be  a  barrister. 
After  some  vain  argument,  the  family  acqui 
esced  in  the  boy's  choice,  and  he  was  sent  to 
the  ancient  Academy  of  Newry,  where  he  soon 
immersed  himself  in  Latin  conjugations  and 
the  Anabasis.  It  is  not  recorded  that  he  was 
particularly  apt.  He  grew  rapidly,  but  his 
development  of  body  seems  to  have  outrun 
that  of  mind.  At  any  rate,  the  "onruly  and 
streperous  "  quality  mentioned  by  his  sailor 
uncle,  at  an  earlier  period,  appears  to  have 
abided  with  him;  because  in  his  seventeenth 
year,  or  about  the  middle  of  his  third  year  at 
the  Academy,  his  curriculum  ended  suddenly 
in  a  peremptory  expulsion. 

6 


His  Early   Life  in  Ireland 

The  immediate  cause  of  this  was  an  at 
tempt  on  the  part  of  the  Moderator  to  chas 
tise  him,  which  resulted  in  failure,  disastrous 
to  the  pedagogue  and  dismal  to  young  Will 
iam.  He  was  not  only  expelled  from  the 
school,  but  taken  before  a  magistrate  on  a 
charge  of  aggravated  assault  and  battery, 
fined  seven  guineas,  and  "put  on  the  limits" 
for  twenty-one  days ! 

At  the  end  of  his  period  of  detention  young 
William  returned  to  the  paternal  abode  at 
Warrenpoint,  only  to  encounter  fresh  trouble. 
Sixteen  years'  service  with  "the  Army  in 
Flanders"  had  made  a  martinet  of  'Squire 
Christopher,  and  twenty-four  years  of  local 
magistracy  had  imbued  him  with  Spartan 
theories  as  to  the  majesty  of  law.  There 
fore,  though  his  tall  son  William  was  un 
questionably  by  long  odds  the  physical  supe 
rior  of  the  old  and  crippled  parent,  the  latter 
did  not  hesitate  to  subject  him,  upon  his 
return  home,  to  the  kind  of  discipline  in 
which  the  robust  pedagogue  had  so  signally 
failed. 

This  flagellation  William  endured  with 
filial  grace,  doubtless  on  the  principle  that 
it  did  not  hurt  him  much,  and  did  the  old 
gentleman  a  great  deal  of  good. 

The  next  three  or  four  years  of  his  life 
7 


Sir  William  Johnson 

were  uneventful.  He  served  for  some  time 
as  magistrate's  clerk  in  his  father's  office. 
But  all  the  time  he  diligently  read  law  and 
history.  So  apt  a  law-student  was  he  and  so 
able  a  preceptor  did  he  find  in  a  local  barris 
ter  of  the  name  of  Byrne,  his  father's  cousin, 
that  he  was  listed  for  examination  at  the 
spring  assizes  in  1737  for  admission  as  a 
junior  barrister.  But  a  month  or  two  before 
the  assizes  met,  an  opportunity  was  offered 
to  him  which  permanently  turned  the  current 
of  his  life. 

Some  years  prior  to  that  time  his  uncle, 
Admiral  Sir  Peter  Warren,  had  purchased, 
under  royal  grant,  a  large  tract  of  land  in 
the  colony  of  New  York,  "scituate  in  the 
Valley  of  Mohock,  west  of  the  trading-post 
called  Schenectady,  and  south  of  the  river 
called  Mohock."  The  settlements  of  the  Pal 
atine  Germans  and  Holland  Dutch  were  push 
ing  up  the  valley  of  the  Mohawk  rapidly, 
under  the  benign  influence  of  the  long  peace, 
so  that  by  1737  Sir  Peter's  land  had  acquired 
market  value  and  was  worth  looking  after. 
He  therefore  offered  to  his  young  nephew, 
then  barely  twenty-two  years  old,  the  chief 
stewardship  of  this  estate,  with  the  general 
agency  of  all  his  interests  in  America,  and  a 
power  of  attorney  "to  buy  and  sell  or  lease 

8 


SIR  PETER  WARREN. 


His  Early  Life  in  Ireland 

real  estate,  to  incur  debts  or  pay  demands, 
and  in  all  respects  to  do  all  things  in  the 
name  of  Peter  Warren,  the  same  and  with 
equal  validity  and  binding  force  as  if  the  said 
Peter  Warren  had  done  them  with  his  own 
hand  and  under  his  own  seal."  That  Admi 
ral  Warren  had  faith  in  the  judgment  and 
integrity  of  his  erstwhile  "most  onruly  and 
streperous"  nephew  may  be  inferred  from  the 
fact  that  this  sweeping  power  of  attorney 
was  made  to  last  "during  the  lifetime  of  the 
said  William  Johnson." 

Joyfully  accepting  the  great  opportunity 
— which  may,  perhaps,  be  described  as  due  to 
the  keen  vision  of  that  "wether  eye"  the  old 
sea-warrior  had  long  ago  determined  to 
"keep  on  this  lad" — young  Johnson  sailed 
late  in  the  summer  of  1737  from  Dundalk  to 
Bristol,  and  thence  to  New  York,  where  he 
arrived  in  December  of  that  year.  His 
papers  indicate  that  he  spent  the  winter  of 
1737-38  in  New  York  city,  making  plans  and 
laying  in  supplies  for  active  operations  in 
his  new  field  of  duty  early  in  the  spring.1 

1  During  the  winter  of  1737-38  that  young  Johnson  spent 
in  New  York  city  he  was  the  guest  of  his  aunt,  Sir  Peter  War 
ren's  wife.  Lady  Warren  was  Susan  DeLancey,  daughter  of 
Stephen  DeLancey,  one  of  the  richest  merchants  in  New  York, 
and  the  family  held  leadership  in  the  most  refined  and  aris 
tocratic  society  of  the  colonial  metropolis.  In  this  select  social 
2  '  9 


Sir  William  Johnson 

As  soon  as  navigation  was  opened  in  the 
North  Biver,  in  the  spring  of  1738,  Johnson 
proceeded  to  Albany  with  a  sloop-load  of 
implements  for  subduing  the  forest,  includ 
ing  a  "set  of  mill-irons"  and  a  "run  of  stone." 
He  also  took  with  him  about  half  a  dozen 
mechanics  of  various  trades.  From  Albany 
the  material  for  the  new  settlement  was  trans 
ported  by  land  to  a  point  on  the  south  side 
of  the  Mohawk  Biver,  a  short  distance  west 
of  the  mouth  of  Schoharie  Creek,  where  he 
founded  a  settlement  on  his  uncle's  land. 
This  settlement  was  then  known  as  "War- 
rensbush"  by  the  Dutch  and  "Warrensburg" 
by  the  English-speaking  settlers,  but  it  has 
long  since  disappeared  from  the  map.  Here 
young  Johnson  remained  about  five  years, 
diligently  improving  his  uncle's  property  by 
building  mills,  making  roads,  and  clearing 
land;  also  by  selling  land  in  farm  tracts 
and  encouraging  and  aiding  the  settlers  to 
clear  it. 

The  young  agent  for  Admiral  Warren's 
estate  in  the  forest  soon  found  that  its  exact 
location  was  ill-defined  and  its  boundaries 

circle  William  bore  himself  with  tact,  dignity,  and  grace 
worthy  of  wider  experience  and  maturer  years,  and  in  it  he 
met  many  men  whose  interest  and  influence  were  vastly  use 
ful  to  him  later  on. 

10 


His  Early  Life  in  Ireland 

quite  conjectural.  However,  this  was  usu 
ally  true  of  kingly  grants  in  the  American 
wilderness  during  those  days,  and  the  prob 
lem  was  not  considered  formidable.  At  any 
rate,  the  particular  point  first  occupied  was 
not  in  dispute,  and  William  Johnson  began 
his  task  of  subduing  the  forest  with  the  tre 
mendous  energy  and  keen  judgment  that 
made  him  the  colossal  pioneer  he  proved 
to  be. 

Thus  far  I  have  referred  to  Warren  as  an 
admiral  and  a  baronet.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
at  the  moment  when  William  Johnson  began 
operations  in  the  Mohawk  Valley  his  uncle, 
who  owned  the  grant,  was  only  senior  cap 
tain  or  commodore  of  the  British  squadron 
on  the  North  American  station,  his  flagship 
being  the  28-gun  frigate  Squirrel.  He  was, 
however,  promoted  to  the  rank  of  rear-admi 
ral  in  1739,  vice-admiral  in  1745,  and  was 
made  a  baronet.  It  may  be  worth  while  to 
remark  here  that  Stone,  in  his  generally  accu 
rate  and  admirable  Life  of  Sir  William  John 
son,  says  that  Admiral  Sir  Peter  Warren 
was  born  in  1704.  This  may  have  been  a 
typographical  error.  At  any  rate,  the  navy 
records  of  England  show  that  Warren  was 
rated  a  midshipman  in  1706,  commissioned  a 
lieutenant  in  1712,  post-captain  in  1724,  and 
11 


Sir  William  Johnson 

was  commodore  on  the  North  American  sta 
tion  in  1737-38.  In  those  days  midshipmen 
were  usually  rated  in  the  British  navy  at 
from  twelve  to  fourteen  years  of  age.  While 
we  have  not  been  able  to  find  the  exact  date 
of  Admiral  Warren's  birth,  it  may  be  pre 
sumed  that  he  was  at  least  twelve  years  old 
in  1706  or  ten  in  1704.  Instead  of  the  latter 
date,  Stone  should,  doubtless,  have  said  1694. 
Young  Johnson  proceeded  diligently  to 
improve  and  develop  his  uncle's  estate. 
Much  of  it  was  sold  off  in  farms  of  from  150 
to  300  acres,  and  settlement  was  rapid.  Sir 
Peter  had  hoped  to  preserve  the  estate  intact 
and  rent  its  lands  in  long  leases  to  tenants. 
But  William  soon  advised  him  that  the  Dutch 
and  Scotch-Irish  settlers  were  averse  to  rent 
als  and  would  take  the  land  only  in  fee  simple 
upon  easy  terms  of  payment.  So,  rather 
than  let  his  grant  remain  an  unproductive 
wilderness,  Sir  Peter  reluctantly  consented 
to  sell  his  land,  and  in  a  few  years  the  most 
of  it  had  passed  out  of  his  hands,  leaving  him 
the  possessor  of  a  snug  sum  of  money  and  a 
large  fund  of  mortgages  drawing  a  fair  rate 
of  interest.  Sir  Peter  died  in  1752,  and  then 
William  Johnson  acquired  possession  of  such 
of  his  lands  as  remained  unsold — probably 
about  one-third  of  the  original  area. 
12 


His  Early  Life  in  Ireland 

From  this  time  on,  for  the  sake  of  conve 
nience,  I  shall  refer  to  Johnson  as  "Sir  Will 
iam,"  although  he  was  not  actually  made  a 
baronet  until  some  years  later. 

Sir  William  passed  five  years  at  Warrens- 
bush — 1738-43.  But  he  never  intended  to 
make  it  his  permanent  home,  nor  was  he 
content  with  the  occupation  of  agent  for  a 
landlord.  He  had  not  been  at  Warrensbush 
two  years  before  he  acquired  by  purchase  a 
tract  of  several  thousand  acres,  on  part  of 
which  a  portion  of  the  city  of  Amsterdam 
now  stands.  This  tract  lay  north  of  the 
Mohawk  River,  and  Johnson  acquired  title  to 
it  in  1741.  He  at  once  began  building  a  sub 
stantial  stone  house,  known  as  "Fort  John 
son"  or  "Mount  Johnson,"  which  is  still 
standing,  about  a  mile  west  of  the  corporate 
limits  of  Amsterdam.  He  also  built  a  saw 
mill  and  grist-mill  on  a  water-power  running 
through  his  lands.  Sir  Peter  Warren  heard 
of  these  operations  and,  being  apprehensive 
that  Sir  William  intended  to  give  up  the 
charge  of  his  estate  and  set  up  in  business  for 
himself,  wrote  two  or  three  rather  severe  let 
ters  to  his  nephew.  The  latter,  however, 
assured  his  uncle  that,  whatever  he  might  do 
on  his  own  account,  it  would  not  in  the  least 
degree  interfere  with  his  care  for  the  inter- 
13 


Sir  William  Johnson 

ests  of  the  Warren  estate,  and  ultimately 
pacified  the  admiral  on  that  point. 

Sir  William's  five  years  at  Warrensbush 
were  not  eventful  in  any  broad  sense.  But 
he  made  it  a  preparatory  school  for  the  great 
destiny  that  awaited  him.  Apart  from  the 
care  of  his  uncle's  estate  and,  after  1741,  the 
development  of  his  own  on  the  north  side  of 
the  river,  he  found  time  to  learn,  to  a  degree 
never  surpassed  and  seldom  if  ever  equaled 
by  any  white  man,  the  character,  ways,  man 
ners,  modes  of  thinking,  and  the  language  of 
the  Iroquois  Indians. 

He  soon  discovered  that  the  management 
of  Indian  affairs,  then  conducted  by  a  Board 
of  Colonial  Commissioners,  was  rotten  to  the 
core.  There  was  no  system  whatever  in  the 
regulation  of  traffic  between  the  whites  and 
Indians.  Any  adventurer  able  to  pay  the 
small  license  fee  required,  or  enjoying  the 
favor  of  a  commissioner,  could  obtain  a 
permit  without  any  inquiry  whatever  as  to 
his  antecedents,  character,  or  responsibility. 
The  result  was  that  the  Indian  trade  had 
fallen,  almost  without  exception,  into  the 
hands  of  sordid,  unprincipled  sharpers,  who 
never  thought  of  an  honest  deal  with  any  red 
man,  but  cheated  and  swindled  the  Indians  at 
every  turn. 


His  Early  Life  in  Ireland 

About  this  time — 1741 — George  Clinton, 
the  father  of  General  Sir  Henry  Clinton  of 
the  British  Army,  was  appointed  Colonial 
Governor  of  New  York,  though  he  did  not 
actually  take  up  the  duties  of  the  office  until 
1743.  However,  Sir  William  immediately 
began  a  correspondence  with  him,  which 
became  voluminous,  so  that  by  the  time  Gov 
ernor  Clinton  assumed  control,  he  had  the 
benefit  of  Sir  William's  keen  insight  and 
thorough  personal  observation  to  guide  him 
in  the  administration  of  Indian  affairs,  which 
had  then  become  the  most  important  element 
of  executive  responsibility  in  the  colony  of 
New  York. 

George  Clinton  was  a  veteran  naval  officer 
and  at  the  time  of  his  appointment  to  be  Colo 
nial  Governor  of  New  York  held  the  rank  of 
vice-admiral.  His  only  previous  experience 
in  a  civil  capacity  had  been  that  of  Governor 
of  Newfoundland  for  eight  or  nine  years ;  but 
that  was  a  mere  sinecure,  as  there  were  not 
more  than  a  thousand  white  people  in  New 
foundland  at  that  time,  while  the  few  hun 
dred  Micmac  Indians  living  there  took  care  of 
themselves  and  needed  little  or  no  attention. 
Hence,  he  was  not  in  any  wise  prepared  for 
the  turmoil  of  faction  and  the  subtlety  of 
political  intrigue  that  distracted  the  councils 
15 


Sir  William  Johnson 

of  New  York.  Still,  he  held  his  post  for 
ten  years — 1743-53 — and  whatever  may  have 
been  his  other  administrative  shortcomings, 
the  management  of  the  Indian  Department 
during  his  term  of  office  left  nothing  to  be 
desired — simply  because,  as  soon  as  he  had 
authority  to  do  so,  he  lodged  the  whole  power 
and  responsibility  of  that  office  in  the  hands 
of  Sir  William  Johnson.  Admiral  Clinton 
and  Admiral  Warren  were  warm  friends  and 
had  been  shipmates.  No  doubt  a  good  word 
or  two  at  the  proper  moment  from  Warren 
had  done  much  to  anchor  Sir  William  in  Clin 
ton's  confidence. 

The  most  important  event  in  Sir  Will 
iam's  five  years'  residence  at  Warrensbush 
had  been  his  marriage  with  Miss  Katharine 
Weisenburg  in  1739.  This  young  woman 
was  the  daughter  of  Jacob  Weisenburg,  a 
Lutheran  clergyman,  who  had  given  her  the 
rudiments  of  a  fair  education.  But  the  fam 
ily  became  impoverished,  and  Katharine  was 
"bound  out"  as  a  servant  when  about  four 
teen  years  old  to  a  Mr.  Phillips,  who  lived 
near  Warrensbush.  Soon  after  he  settled  at 
the  latter  place,  William  Johnson  saw  this 
girl,  fancied  her,  and  "bought  her  indentures" 
from  Mr.  Phillips.  This  was  in  1739,  and  as 
soon  as  she  became  "his  property"  by  pur- 
16 


His  Early  Life  in  Ireland 

chase  of  her  indentures,  he  married  her;  the 
ceremony,  according  to  W.  Max  Eeid,  author 
of  The  Mohawk  Valley,  being  performed  by 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Barclay,  rector  of  Queen  Anne's 
Chapel  at  Fort  Hunter.  She  bore  to  Sir 
.William  three  children:  Anne,  born  1740; 
John  (afterward  Sir  John),  born  1742;  and 
Mary,  born  1744.1 

At  length,  in  the  early  spring  of  1743,  the 
new  stone  mansion  at  Mount  Johnson  was 
completed,  and  Sir  William  transferred  his 
family  and  household  to  it  from  the  log  house 
which  had  been  his  habitation  at  Warrens- 
bush.  Some  idea  of  the  tremendous  energy 
of  the  man  may  be  formed  from  the  fact  that 
during  the  two  years  of  his  possession  of  the 
Mount  Johnson  tract  he  had  not  only  built  on 
it  a  commodious  and,  for  those  times,  elegant 
stone  mansion,  but  had  built  a  large  dam, 
forming  a  valuable  water-power,  a  sawmill 
capable  of  turning  out  1,000  to  1,500  feet  of 
lumber  a  day,  and  had  laid  the  foundations  of 
a  flouring-mill,  which  was  completed  and  in 
operation  the  following  year  (1744).  But 
more  than  all  that,  he  had,  by  means  of  hired 

1  Some  idea  of  the  vicissitudes  possible  on  that  Old  New 
York  Frontier  may  be  formed  from  the  fact  that  a  woman, 
destined  to  be  the  wife  of  one  baronet  of  England  and  the 
mother  of  another,  was  a  "bound  servant"  at  fourteen,  and 
that  her  husband  had  to  buy  her  before  he  could  marry  her. 

17 


Sir   William  Johnson 

labor  in  a  colony  where  it  was  difficult  to  in 
duce  men  to  work  for  wages,  cleared  and 
made  ready  for  cultivation  nearly  500  acres 
of  the  most  fertile  land  to  be  found  anywhere 
in  the  great  "Mohawk  Flats." 

Much  of  this  force  of  laborers  he  had 
brought  over  himself  from  the  County  Down, 
where  his  father  acted  as  his  employment- 
agent.  During  the  year  1741  about  sixty 
families  came  over — sturdy  Scotch-Irish  like 
himself.  He  paid  all  their  expenses  and  had 
comfortable  log  houses  prepared  for  their 
reception  when  they  arrived.  In  accordance" 
with  the  custom  of  those  days,  these  immi 
grants  came  as  " bound  servants,"  but  upon 
arrival  they  were  immediately  released  from 
their  indentures  by  Sir  William,  and  lands 
belonging  to  his  estate  were  allotted  to  them 
by  long  leases  for  nominal  rental,  which  they 
paid  in  labor,  or,  as  the  saying  was,  "worked 
out." 

This  policy  Sir  William  followed  for  many 
years,  until  he  had  gathered  about  him  a 
numerous  clan  of  frontier  yeomanry  as  loyal 
to  him  as  were  ever  the  retainers  of  a  feudal 
baron.  On  one  occasion,  hearing  that  a  con 
siderable  number  of  German  refugees  had 
sailed  from  a  port  in  Holland  bound  for  New 
York,  he  arranged  with  his  brother,  Warren 
18 


His  Early  Life  in  Ireland 

Johnson,  an  officer  in  the  British  navy,  then 
on  shore  duty  in  New  York  as  keeper  of  the 
king's  magazines,  to  meet  them  upon  their 
arrival  and  persuade  them  to  come  to  the 
Mohawk  Valley  and  settle  upon  his  estate. 
Captain  Johnson  succeeded,  and  the  entire 
little  colony,  numbering  about  160  souls,  set 
tled  upon  the  extension  of  Sir  William's 
estate,  commonly  known  as  the  Johnstown 
tract.  Besides  all  these  vast  undertakings — 
vast,  indeed,  for  their  times  and  conditions — 
Sir  William  established,  in  1744,  a  trading- 
post  at  Oquawgo  or  Oghwaga,  an  Indian  vil 
lage  on  the  Susquehanna,  at  the  foot  of  the 
mountain  from  which  it  derived  its  name.  Its 
location  was  near  the  present  site  of  the  vil 
lage  of  Windsor,  Broome  County,  N.  Y.,  and 
about  five  or  six  miles  below  it  on  the  river 
was  the  principal  village  of  the  remnant  of  the 
Tuscaroras,  who  had  been  adopted  into  the 
Iroquois  Confederacy. 

Oquawgo,  which  lay  more  than  one  hun 
dred  miles  south  of  Sir  William's  home,  was 
then  an  Indian  village  of  about  one  hundred 
lodges,  many  of  which  were  quite  commodi 
ous  habitations  built  of  logs  or  of  poles  cov 
ered  and  roofed  with  bark,  having  fire 
places  with  chimneys,  and  otherwise  far  be 
yond  the  average  aboriginal  abode  in  the 
19 


Sir  William  Johnson 

essentials  of  decency  and  comfort.  The  popu 
lation  of  this  village  was  made  up  of  people 
from  every  tribe  of  the  Iroquois,  and  at  the 
time  of  which  I  now  write  (1744)  it  had  ac 
quired  a  status  of  its  own,  having  existed 
more  than  two  hundred  years,  and  its  deni 
zens  were  currently  designated  as  a  sort  of 
tribe  or  clan  by  themselves,  distinctive  enough 
to  cause  them  to  be  spoken  of  in  most  histo 
ries  of  the  time  and  place  as  the  "Oquawgo  " 
(or  "Oghwaga  ")  Indians. 

The  name  has  been  spelled  in  a  great  vari 
ety  of  ways.  The  author  has  adopted  the  or 
thography  of  his  great-grandfather,  Simon 
Buell,  who  came  from  Dutchess  County 
shortly  after  the  Revolution  and  settled  close 
to  the  then  nearly  deserted  Indian  village, 
a  part  of  his  farm  being  land  that  had  been 
cleared  and  cultivated  by  the  Indians  long 
before.  Joseph  Brant,  in  his  correspond 
ence  and  papers,  always  spelled  it  "Ogh 
waga,"  and  maybe  he  was  a  better  authority 
on  Iroquois  orthography  than  Simon  Buell. 
However,  in  any  future  reference  to  the  place 
I  shall  use  the  form  "Oquawgo." 

The     trading-post    which     Sir     William 

founded  there  in  1744  was  built  on  the  bank 

of  the  river  opposite  the  Indian  village  and 

just  abreast  of  the  lower  end  of  an  island 

20 


His  Early  Life  in  Ireland 

which,  from  the  profusion  of  apple-trees 
growing  on  it,  was  known  to  the  older  settlers 
as  Indian  Orchard.  When  Sir  William  pro 
posed  to  establish  this  post,  which  was  within 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  Oneida  tribe,  the  chief 
of  the  southern  district  of  that  clan,  Antone, 
gave  him  about  a  square  mile  of  land  in  con 
nection  with  it.  The  trading-post  was  a  log 
blockhouse  about  36X24  feet  on  the  ground, 
with  a  second  story  projecting  2  feet  all 
round,  or  40X28  feet.  It  was  surrounded 
by  a  palisade  of  logs  placed  upright  some 
10  feet  high,  with  an  open  space  of  about  60 
feet  all  round  between  it  and  the  building. 
The  enclosure  contained  a  small  but  never- 
failing  spring,  so  that,  if  besieged,  the  garri 
son  of  the  post  would  have  no  trouble  on  the 
score  of  water-supply.  After  the  conquest 
of  Canada  the  palisade  was  taken  away,  and 
the  blockhouse  itself  was  burned  by  Colonel 
William  Butler's  Rangers  (Americans)  in 
1778. 

The  site  for  the  post  was  selected  and  the 
blockhouse  built  by  Ezra  Buell,  Sr.,1  a  sur 
veyor  from  Dutchess  County,  who  was  in  Sir 

1  This  Ezra  Buell  had  a  nephew,  also  named  Ezra,  who  fig 
ured  during  the  Revolution  as  a  lieutenant  in  Morgan's  Rifle 
men  until  1778,  and  after  that  until  1783  as  a  captain  in  the 
Third  New  York  Continentals. 

21 


Sir  William  Johnson 

William's  employ  for  many  years;  Ms  last 
service  of  any  note  having  been  to  assist  Simon 
Metcalf  in  running  and  marking  the  Fort 
Stanwix  treaty  line  in  1769.  When  the  post 
was  established,  Sir  William  requested  Ezra 
Buell  to  manage  it  until  he  could  find  a  com 
petent  man  to  be  permanent  agent.1  This 
search  seems  to  have  lasted  three  years,  be 
cause  it  was  not  until  1747  that  Buell  was 
relieved  by  John  Butler — afterward  notori 
ous  in  the  Tory  annals  of  the  Mohawk  Valley. 
In  the  meantime  the  post  had  developed  a 
great  and  thriving  trade,  which  it  continued 
to  enjoy  until  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution. 

Sir  William,  when  he  applied  to  the  Colo 
nial  Governor  for  a  license,  said:  "I  wish  to 
create  this  trading-post  not  any  more  for  the 
profits  it  may  bring  to  me  than  to  show  by 
actual  example  that  trade  with  the  Indians 
can  be  conducted  honestly  as  well  as  any 
other  commercial  business !  " 

The  sequel  soon  proved  that  the  Indians 
know  as  well  as  anybody  when  they  are  fairly 
dealt  with.  Sir  William's  honest  trading- 
post  at  Oquawgo  within  five  years  drove  out 
of  business  the  horde  of  rascals  who,  from 

1  During  this  period  Ezra  took  unto  himself  a  pretty  Tus- 
carora  girl,  with  whom  he  lived  happily  for  many  years.  He 
died  near  Kingston,  on  the  Hudson,  in  1807,  aged  eighty-nine. 


His  Early  Life  in  Ireland 

the  beginning  of  Indian  traffic,  had  been  rob 
bing  the  red  men  of  the  Susquehanna  Valley; 
right  and  left. 

Necessarily  considerable  capital  was  re 
quired  to  carry  on  such  a  tremendous  volume 
of  business.  This  was  supplied  mainly  by 
Admiral  Warren  and  the  rest  by  Stephen  and 
James  DeLancey,  who  had  taken  a  warm 
fancy  to  the  stalwart  and  indefatigable  young 
Scotch-Irishman.  The  rates  of  interest  were 
low,  and  were  paid,  in  the  main,  by  percentage 
on  profits.  But  few  years  elapsed,  however, 
before  the  growth  of  Sir  William's  own  for 
tune  enabled  him  to  discharge  the  principal 
of  the  loans  from  his  Uncle  Warren  and  the 
DeLanceys,  and  thereafter  he  was  abundantly 
able  to  "go  it  alone." 

Admiral  Warren's  ability  to  "finance"  his 
ambitious  nephew  may  be  inferred  from  a 
letter  written  to  Sir  William  by  his  brother, 
Captain  Warren  Johnson,  under  date  of 
"New  York,  September  13,  1747."  The  mate 
rial  part  of  it  is  as  follows : 

Last  evening  I  arrived  here  from  Louisburg 
with  my  ship,  which  is  in  need  of  repairs,  and  I  am 
to  go  to  England  in  the  Scarborough  frigate,  there 
to  get  a  new  command.  My  rank  now  entitles  me 
to  a  first-class  frigate,  in  which  I  will  have  much 
better  opportunities  than  in  the  20-gun  ship  I  have 
23 


Sir  William  Johnson 

commanded  these  two  years  past.  I  have  had  no 
chance  of  independent  cruising,  having  been  all  the 
time  either  with  the  fleet  as  despatch- vessel  or  on 
convoy.  The  result  is  that,  excepting  what  share 
may  fall  to  me  as  prize  from  the  taking  of  Louis- 
bourg  and  the  St.  Domingo  fleet,  the  words  "  prize- 
money  "  have  an  empty  sound  for  me. 

I  would  much  like  to  go  up  to  Mount  Johnson 
and  see  you.  But  the  Scarborough  sails  too  soon 
to  permit  making  the  journey  and  returning  in 
time,  and,  besides,  the  first  thing  Aunt  Susan  (Mrs. 
Admiral  Warren)  told  me  when  I  arrived  at  her 
house  was  that  you  are  now  out  among  the  Western 
Iroquois  counteracting  the  intrigues  of  the  French 
Papists  and  arranging  for  a  contingent  of  war 
riors  for  the  grand  movement *  to  be  carried  out 
next  spring. 

So  nothing  is  left  for  me  but  to  go  to  England 
without  seeing  you. 

I  make  no  doubt  you  have  heard  of  our  Uncle 
Warren's  great  successes  in  his  two  cruises;  the 
first  as  second-in-command  to  Admiral  Anson  and 
the  second  with  a  squadron  of  which  he  was  com- 
mander-in-chief,  part  of  which  fell  in  with  the 
Santo  Domingo  fleet,  home  bound  with  full  cargoes, 

1  The  "grand  movement"  referred  to  was  the  proposed 
reduction  of  Crown  Point  and  invasion  of  Canada  by  way  of 
Lake  Champlain  early  the  next  spring.  It  will  be  noted  that 
Captain  Warren  Johnson  spoke  of  it  in  the  vaguest  possi 
ble  terms.  His  letter  might,  he  thought,  by  some  mishap 
fall  into  the  hands  of  the  French. 

24 


His  Early  Life  in  Ireland 

and  took  sixty-two  sail  of  them.  He  had  taken 
several  rich  ships  before.  He  must  now  be  one  of 
the  richest  men  in  England,  and  not  one  has  done 
his  country  better  service.  He  must  be  worth  four 
hundred  thousand  pounds  sterling.  He  is  now 
Vice- Admiral  of  the  White  and  member  of  Parlia 
ment  for  Westminster;  and  I  have  no  doubt  in  a 
very  short  time  he  will  be  a  peer  of  England. 

With  his  removal  from  Warrensbush  to 
Mount  Johnson  in  the  early  spring  of  1743 
the  active  and  effective  public  career  of  Sir 
William  Johnson  may  be  said  to  have  begun. 
Prior  to  that  time  his  connection  with  public 
affairs  had  been  limited  to  correspondence 
with  Governor  Clinton  on  the  Indian  ques 
tion,  and  with  the  Colonial  Chief-Justice, 
James  DeLancey,  in  regard  to  the  confusion 
of  land-titles  in  the  Mohawk  Valley,  both  of 
which  were  then  prime  objects  of  public 
attention. 

His  first  notable  appearance  in  public 
affairs  was  his  appointment  by  Chief-Justice 
DeLancey  as  master  or  referee  in  a  land  liti 
gation  between  George  Klock  and  Peter  Van 
Braam  of  Canajoharie,  involving  a  consider 
able  tract  nortli  of  the  Mohawk  River,  where, 
by  the  vagueness  of  their  terms,  two  pur 
chases  of  land  from  the  Indians  appeared 
to  overlap  each  other.  Upon  this  issue  he 
3  25 


Sir  William  Johnson 

brought  to  bear  his  knowledge  of  the  Iroquois 
tongue,  and  personally  examined  a  number  of 
Indian  witnesses  without  an  interpreter.  In 
fact,  after  about  1740,  he  never  used  an  inter 
preter  in  his  dealings  with  the  Indians,  but 
often  acted  as  such  himself  at  conferences 
between  the  Governor  and  delegations  of 
chiefs  at  Albany.  His  report  in  this  case  was 
prepared  with  such  ability  and  precision  as 
to  elicit  the  outspoken  admiration  of  Judge 
DeLancey,  who  approved  it. 

Late  in  the  fall  of  1743  the  venerable 
Colonel  Peter  Schuyler  resigned  from  the 
Board  of  Indian  Commissioners,  and  Gov 
ernor  Clinton  at  once  invited  Sir  William  to 
fill  the  vacancy.  The  Board  consisted  of  five 
members,  one  of  whom  must,  by  the  law  then 
prevailing,  be  a  minister  of  the  Gospel.  At 
the  time  under  consideration  the  clerical 
member  of  the  Board  was  a  clergyman  of  the 
Church  of  England  whose  pastorate  was  in 
New  York  city,  who  knew  little  or  nothing 
about  Indian  affairs,  and  paid  little  or  no 
attention  to  the  duties  of  his  office.  He  was 
willing  to  resign,  and  Sir  William  recom 
mended  that  his  resignation  be  accepted.  In 
his  place  he  advised  the  Governor  to  appoint 
the  Eev.  Jacob  Weisenburg,  a  Lutheran  min 
ister  of  Schenectady,  and  the  father  of  his 
26 


His  Early  Life  in  Ireland 

wife.  Mr.  Weisenburg  had  lived  among  the 
Indians  ever  since  his  arrival  in  this  country, 
early  in  the  eighteenth  century,  had  converted 
many  of  them,  was  familiar  with  their  traits, 
and  was  much  beloved  by  them.  This  was 
done.  Not  long  afterward  another  member 
of  the  Board  resigned,  and,  to  fill  his  place, 
Sir  William  recommended  the  Rev.  Mr.  Van 
Ness,  a  Dutch  Reformed  pastor  of  Albany, 
whom  Governor  Clinton  at  once  appointed. 
He  now  had  a  majority  of  three  to  two 
on  the  Board  on  any  or  all  of  the  three  prime 
questions  involved  in  the  Indian  problem: 
First,  he  was  sure  that  the  ministers  of  the 
Gospel — one  representing  the  Holland  Dutch 
and  the  other  the  Palatines — would  stand  by 
him  in  the  determined  effort  he  intended  ma 
king  to  break  up  the  liquor  traffic  with  the  In 
dians.  Second,  he  knew  that  the  reverend 
gentlemen  could  not  possibly  have  any  con 
nection  with  the  rascally  traders  or  their  in 
terests,  and  would  sustain  him  in  his  efforts 
to  compel  honest  dealing  with  the  red  men. 
And,  third,  he  took  it  for  granted  that  they 
would  joyfully  back  him  up  in  his  scheme  to 
organize  Protestant  missions  and  mission 
schools  throughout  the  Iroquois  Confederacy, 
which  he  considered  the  only  effective  means 
of  counteracting  the  intrigues  and  influence 
27 


Sir  William  Johnson 

of  the  Canadian  French  Jesuits,  who  for 
many  years  had  been  proselyting  among  the 
Six  Nations — particularly  the  two  western 
tribes,  the  Cayugas  and  the  Senecas. 

His  anticipations  in  these  directions 
proved  well  founded.  The  laws  against  sell 
ing  liquor  to  the  Indians  were  rigidly,  and  in 
some  cases  drastically,  enforced — to  such  an 
extent  that,  according  to  the  manuscript  jour 
nal  of  William  Sammons,  corroborated  by 
the  papers  of  the  Rev.  John  Barclay,  a  mis 
sionary,  there  were  at  one  time  twenty-six 
culprits  in  the  Albany  jail  serving  various 
terms  of  imprisonment  for  violation  of  the 
Indian  anti-liquor  law.  Also  during  the 
period  between  1743  and  1746  a  majority  of 
the  trading-licenses  previously  granted  had 
been  revoked  and  annulled  by  the  Governor 
on  recommendation  of  the  Board,  and  in  three 
or  four  of  the  most  flagrant  cases  of  fraud 
and  swindling,  prosecutions  had  been  insti 
tuted  by  the  Attorney-General  or  King's 
Counsel  for  the  Colony.  Besides  these 
things,  Sir  William's  pet  policy  of  founding 
numerous  missions  and  mission  schools 
among  the  tribes  was  adopted  and  an  appro 
priation  was  made  by  the  Colonial  Assembly 
to  aid  them. 

In  fact,  it  may  be  said  that,  supported  as 
28 


His  Early  Life  in  Ireland 

he  invariably  was  by  his  two  clerical  hench 
men,  Sir  William  soon  became  to  all  intents 
and  purposes  not  only  the  president  of  the 
Board,  but  the  Board  itself.  His  idea  of  the 
value  of  Christianity  as  an  agency  of  civiliza 
tion  among  the  Indians  may  be  inferred  from 
a  passage  in  a  letter  he  wrote  to  Governor 
Clinton  in  1744,  in  which  he  said: 

You  can  make  a  pretty  good  and  generally 
faithful  fellow  of  an  Indian  by  simply  treating 
Mm  fairly  in  business  matters  and  helping  him 
along  now  and  then  when  his  natural  indolence  or 
improvidence  or  bad  luck  has  brought  him  to 
straits.  But  you  can  never  completely  depend  on 
him  or  overcome  the  inherent  fickleness  of  his 
nature  until  you  have  made  a  Christian  of  him  and 
brought  him  thereby  under  that  sense  of  personal 
responsibility  not  only  to  men,  but  to  the  Almighty, 
that  religion  teaches.  Either  in  war  or  in  peace, 
one  Christian  Indian  is  always  worth  two  heathen 
ones! 

From  1743  to  1746  Sir  William,  whose 
public  duties  did  not  take  up  more  than  a 
moiety  of  his  time,  continued  to  improve  his 
estate  and  extend  his  commercial  operations 
with  unflagging  energy.  Notwithstanding 
that,  in  addition  to  his  duties  in  connection 
with  the  Indian  Commission,  he  was  ap 
pointed  colonel  of  the  militia  regiment  for 
29 


Sir  William  Johnson 

the  western  district  of  Albany  County  in 
1744,  and  king's  magistrate  for  the  same  dis 
trict  in  April,  1745,  he  still  found  time  to 
transact  his  great  and  rapidly  growing  pri 
vate  business. 

About  this  time  he  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  live  stock  of  the  Mohawk  Valley 
needed  improvement,  and  to  that  end  im 
ported  from  England  a  considerable  breed 
ing  stud  of  horses,  together  with  a  number  of 
cattle  and  sheep.  His  papers  and  accounts 
indicate  that  he  imported  about  thirty  horses, 
thirty  or  forty  head  of  cattle,  and  a  hundred 
or  more  sheep.  He  selected  the  Irish  hunter 
as  the  most  available  breed  of  horses  for 
Colonial  use  in  general,  though  in  the  ac 
counts  of  his  importations  four  Suffolk  stal 
lions  appear.  These,  of  course,  were  in 
tended  to  improve  the  breed  of  draft-horses 
by  crossing  with  the  native  mares.  The 
cattle  he  imported  came  from  Devonshire 
and  Hereford.  The  sheep  were  English- 
bred  Spanish  merinos — a  breed  producing 
an  exceeding  fine  wool.  These  importations 
were  made  from  time  to  time  in  small  lots 
during  a  period  of  three  or  four  years.  To 
his  tenants  he  gave  the  services  of  his  breed 
ing  animals  free,  and  to  his  neighbors  in  gen 
eral  for  a  nominal  consideration,  in  view  of 
30 


His  Early  Life  in  Ireland 

the  outlay  lie  had  incurred  in  importing  them. 
So  rapidly  did  his  agricultural  operations 
grow  that  by  1746  he  began  shipping  flour 
to  the  West  Indies  in  considerable  quantity. 

All  the  time  he  continued  clearing  land  at 
the  rate  of  from  250  to  300  acres  a  year,  so 
that  by  the  end  of  the  year  1746  he  had  about 
1,200  acres  under  his  own  cultivation,  besides 
the  large  areas  cleared  and  brought  into  till 
age  by  his  tenants,  who  now  numbered  over 
a  hundred.  Up  to  this  time  Sir  William  had 
not  held  any  slaves,  but  in  1747  an  estate  in 
Dutchess  County  was  sold  at  administrator's 
sale,  in  partition.  This  estate  included  nine 
teen  slaves.  Sir  William  bought  the  lot 
entire,  though  only  about  ten  or  eleven  of 
them  were  able-bodied  men  or  women,  the 
rest  being  aged  and  infirm,  or  children.  The 
men  he  employed  chiefly  in  taking  care  of  his 
horses  and  other  live  stock,  while  the  women 
were  occupied  in  his  household.  He  pro 
vided  comfortable  cabins  for  them,  and  ac 
cording  to  all  accounts  he  was  an  easy  mas 
ter.  He  ultimately  became  the  largest  slave 
holder  in  the  colony  of  New  York,  possessing 
between  sixty  and  seventy. 

During  this  period  the  War  of  the  Aus 
trian  Succession  raged  in  Europe,  but  its 
effect  in  America  did  not  begin  to  be  felt  to 
31 


Sir  William  Johnson 

any  serious  degree  until  1745;  and  even 
then  there  were  no  great  operations  in  the 
interior  of  the  country.  About  all  that 
occurred  were  raids  by  small  parties  against 
outlying  settlements  or  posts.  In  1746  an 
effort  was  made  to  combine  the  provincial 
forces  of  New  England,  New  York,  and  Penn 
sylvania  with  a  force  of  British  regulars,  for 
the  reduction  of  Crown  Point  and  an  invasion 
of  Canada  by  way  of  Lake  Champlain.  But 
the  colonies  could  not  reach  an  agreement  as 
to  quotas  of  men  and  proportions  of  money 
to  be  furnished.  The  British  Government  did 
not  seem  disposed  to  employ  its  regular 
troops  in  such  an  enterprise — in  fact,  the 
military  operations  of  the  English  on  the 
continent  of  Europe  absorbed  all  the  troops 
they  had  available,  and  the  colonial  garrisons 
were  depleted  rather  than  reenforced.  The 
colonists,  accordingly,  during  this  struggle 
— which,  in  America,  was  known  as  "King 
George's  War  " — were  left  almost  wholly  to 
their  own  resources. 

The  only  great  event  in  America  was  the 
siege  and  capture  of  the  French  fortress  of 
Louisburg  on  Cape  Breton  Island  by  a  com 
bined  military  and  naval  force,  the  troops 
being  all  Provincials  except  one  company  of 
regular  sappers  and  miners  and  two  compa- 
32 


His  Early  Life  in  Ireland 

nies  of  infantry.  The  fleet  was  commanded 
by  Admiral  Sir  Peter  Warren  and  the  land 
forces  by  Colonel  Sir  William  Pepperell  of 
Massachusetts.1  All  the  Provincial  troops 
were  furnished  by  the  New  England  colonies, 
and  though  a  contingent  was  to  have  been 
provided  by  New  York,  its  organization  was 
not  completed  in  time  to  sail  with  the  expedi 
tion.  The  taking  of  Louisburg  was  an  ex 
ceedingly  brilliant  affair  and  reflected  great 
credit  upon  the  Provincial  troops  engaged  in 
it.  They  were,  of  course,  powerfully  and 
decisively  aided  by  Admiral  Warren's  fleet, 
which  not  only  cut  off  and  captured  the 
French  ships  that  tried  to  bring  reenforce- 
ments  and  supplies  to  the  garrison,  but  par 
ticipated  effectively  in  the  bombardments. 
Finding  that  the  Provincial  volunteers  were 
not  highly  expert  in  the  use  of  heavy  siege- 
guns,  Admiral  Warren  landed  a  force  of  blue 
jackets  sufficient  to  work  them.  This  land 
ing  force  was  commanded  by  Captain  Warren 
Johnson  of  the  20-gun  ship  Avon,  and  brother 
of  Sir  William.  The  terms  of  the  peace  of 
Aix-la-Chapelle  restored  Louisburg  to  France, 

1  Pepperell  was  a  native  and  resident  of  Kittery,  in  the 
present  State  of  Maine — and  Maine  now  claims  him.  But  it 
was  part  of  Massachusetts  then,  and  for  that  reason  I  speak 
of  Pepperell  as  "  of  Massachusetts. " 

33 


Sir  William  Johnson 

to  the  bitter  disgust  of  the  colonies,  particu 
larly  New  England. 

During  the  fall  of  1747  a  substantial 
agreement  was  reached  between  New  Eng 
land,  New  York,  and  New  Jersey  to  invade 
Canada  by  way  of  Lake  Champlain  early  in 
the  spring  of  1748.  The  quotas  of  men  and 
money  were  agreed  upon  by  commissioners 
appointed  from  each  colony.  Pennsylvania 
did  not  undertake  to  furnish  a  quota  of  men, 
but  agreed  to  bear  a  share  of  the  financial 
burdens.  No  attempt  was  made  to  enlist  the 
cooperation  of  any  colony  south  of  Pennsyl 
vania.  The  British  Government  was  to  fur 
nish  a  siege-train  with  regular  artillerists  and 
two  regiments  of  regular  infantry.  Sir  Will 
iam  Johnson's  share  in  this  proposed  enter 
prise  was  to  have  been  an  important  one.  In 
September,  1746,  the  Governor  had  abolished 
the  Indian  Board  and  appointed  Sir  William 
sole  Superintendent  of  Indian  Affairs  in  the 
colony  of  New  York.  This  action  of  Gov 
ernor  Clinton  had  been  confirmed  by  royal 
warrant,  and  Sir  William  was  commissioned 
a  colonel  on  the  permanent  establishment. 
The  practical  effect  of  this  action  was  to  take 
the  control  of  Indian  affairs  out  of  the  hands 
of  the  Assembly  and  vest  it  in  an  officer  of 
the  Crown,  responsible  directly  to  the  king. 
34 


His  Early  Life  in  Ireland 

It  was  a  bold  step,  but  a  logical  one,  and 
based  upon  the  views  Sir  William  had  fre 
quently  expressed  both  in  his  correspondence 
with  the  Governor  and  in  Council. 

Sir  William  held  that  the  Indians  could 
not  rightfully  be  held  as  under  the  jurisdic 
tion  of  the  Colonial  Government,  that  they 
had  thus  far  been  so  held  by  sufferance,  or 
because  no  one  had  taken  sufficient  interest  in 
them  to  assert  their  rights  for  them — which 
they  could  not  do  or  did  not  know  how  to  do 
themselves.  He  held  that  they  had  a  govern 
ment  of  their  own,  that  they  were  not  citizens, 
and  that  they  were  unrepresented  in  the  body 
that  legislated  for  them.  This  status,  he 
argued,  made  them  the  wards  of  the  king 
individually,  and  that  their  government  was 
under  the  protection  of  the  king. 

As  I  have  already  remarked,  the  abolish 
ment  of  the  Board  and  the  appointment  of  Sir 
William  as  sole  superintendent,  with  military 
rank  as  an  officer  of  the  Crown,  carried  this 
theory  into  effect  in  fact,  if  not  in  name ;  and 
so  long  as  the  Colonial  condition  lasted,  after 
that  the  relation  was  never  changed,  nor  was 
attempt  made  to  change  it  except  in  one 
instance,  which  will  be  noted  later  on.  This 
somewhat  detailed  description  of  Sir  Will 
iam's  status  at  the  time  under  consideration 
35 


Sir  William  Johnson 

seems  requisite  to  a  clear  understanding  of 
his  relation  to  the  proposed  expedition 
against  Canada  in  the  spring  of  1748.  He 
was  to  have  command  of  a  division  composed 
of  a  brigade  of  Provincial  troops  under  his 
own  immediate  command,  and  a  thousand 
Indians  to  be  commanded  by  Hendrick.  And 
he  was  also  to  be  second  in  command  of  the 
entire  force,  Sir  William  Pepperell  having 
been  selected  for  the  command-in-chief.  Dur 
ing  the  autumn  of  1747  all  arrangements  were 
made  to  mobilize  a  force  at  least  nine  thou 
sand  strong,  with  a  reserve  of  five  thousand. 
The  Iroquois  had  agreed  to  furnish  not  less 
than  a  thousand  picked  warriors.  It  was 
noted  that  the  Senecas  now,  for  the  first  time 
since  the  alliance  between  the  English  and  the 
Six  Nations  was  ratified,  in  1710,  displayed 
zeal  and  responded  to  the  call  for  men  with 
alacrity. 

As  an  indication  of  the  thoroughness  with 
which  this  proposed  invasion  had  been 
planned,  it  is  worth  while  to  observe  that  the 
scheme  of  preparation  involved  not  only  the 
mobilization  of  fourteen  thousand  troops  in 
the  early  spring,  but  also  provision  for  ta 
king  control  of  Lake  Champlain.  Three  stout 
sloops  were  to  be  built  during  thq  winter  at  a 
convenient  point  near  the  south  end  of  the 
36 


His  Early  Life  in  Ireland 

lake.  These  sloops  were  designed  to  carry; 
one  long  12-pounder  each  on  a  pivot  amid 
ships,  and  two  swivels.  In  fact,  at  the  time 
when  the  communication  of  the  Duke  of  New 
castle  reached  Albany,  considerable  timber 
for  the  construction  of  these  sloops  had 
already  been  cut,  and  some  of  it  shaped  for 
use.  As  the  French  had  no  naval  force  what 
ever  on  the  lake,  it  was  estimated  that  these 
sloops  could  command  its  waters  long  enough 
to  ensure  the  reduction  of  Crown  Point, 
because,  if  the  French  had  gunboats  in  the  St. 
Lawrence  of  dimensions  capable  of  passing 
the  Sorel  River,  the  ice  would  not  be  out 
before  May,  and  it  was  confidently  expected 
that  Crown  Point  must  fall  before  the  end  of 
April. 

It  was  now  considered  that  all  requisite 
preparations  for  the  spring  campaign  had 
been  completed,  when  a  communication  was 
received  from  the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  then 
Prime  Minister.  In  this  communication  the 
duke,  in  the  name  of  the  king,  warmly  ap 
proved  the  zeal  and  fidelity  of  the  colonists, 
commended  their  preparations,  and  congratu 
lated  them  upon  their  apparent  unity  of 
design.  But  he  intimated  that  events  were  in 
progress  in  Europe  which  would  be  likely  to 
render  the  proposed  expedition  unnecessary. 
37 


Sir  William  Johnson 

In  those  circumstances  and  in  the  interest 
of  economy,  the  king  had  directed  that  the 
troops  already  assembled  and  ready  to  go 
into  winter  quarters  at  and  about  Albany  be 
furloughed  until  April,  retaining  only  a  force 
of  Provincials  and  Indians  sufficient  to  guard 
the  northern  frontier.  This  action  disap 
pointed  the  white  troops  who  had  volunteered 
with  so  much  alacrity,  and  it  almost  disheart 
ened  the  Indians.  But  by  liberal  distribution 
of  presents,  as  they  started  for  their  home, 
Sir  William  managed  to  allay  in  great  meas 
ure  their  discontent. 

There  were  about  six  hundred  Indians  in 
their  camp  near  Cohoes  and  at  Schaghticoke, 
and  additional  recruits  were  coming  in  every 
day.  As  all  these  men  had  been  kept  from 
their  usual  fall  hunt,  there  was  considerable 
destitution  among  the  tribes  during  the  win 
ter,  which,  however,  proved  to  be  short  and 
mild.  The  Assembly  voted  considerable 
sums  to  relieve  them  as  far  as  possible.  This 
was  practically  the  end  of  "King  George's 
War,"  so  far  as  the  colonies  were  concerned. 
The  frontier,  however,  was  strongly  guarded 
during  the  winter,  and  in  February,  1748,  at 
the  solicitation  of  the  Governor,  Sir  William 
took  command  of  the  whole  line  of  frontier 
defense,  and  held  it  until  the  peace  of  Aix-la- 
38 


His  Early  Life  in  Ireland 

Chapelle  was  promulgated.  But  no  military 
event  of  moment  occurred  within  the  limits 
of  his  command  during  the  winter  or  the 
ensuing  spring. 

By  April,  1748,  it  became  generally  known 
that  the  war  was  practically  over,  and  though 
the  definitive  peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  was 
not  promulgated  until  October  of  that  year,  a 
virtual  armistice  prevailed  during  the  sum 
mer,  both  in  Europe  and  America.  The 
frontier  defenses  were  considerably  strength 
ened  as  spring  opened,  but  there  was  no  move 
ment  on  either  side.  The  French  did  not 
come  south  of  Crown  Point — which  was  their 
most  advanced  post — while  the  northern  out 
post  of  the  Provincials  was  at  the  head  or 
south  end  of  Lake  George,  where  Sir  Will 
iam  had  his  field  headquarters.  During  the 
spring  and  summer  of  1748  the  frontier  force 
of  the  Provincials  was  about  three  thousand, 
including  some  four  hundred  Iroquois.  The 
Provincials  were  quartered  in  four  or  five 
camps  within  easy  supporting  distance ;  some 
at  the  head  of  Lake  George,  some  at  the  head 
of  Lake  Champlain,  and  others  at  Saratoga, 
Glens  Falls,  or  where  Fort  Edward  was 
afterward  built,  and  the  remainder  at  Fort 
Anne.  The  Indians  remained  at  Schaghticoke 
and  Cohoes. 

39 


Sir  William  Johnson 

The  French  had  twelve  hundred  men — 
about  half  of  them  regulars — at  Crown  Point, 
and  a  large  reserve  of  Canadian  militia  and 
Indians  at  Isle  aux  Noix.  In  this  manner  the 
two  belligerents  faced  each  other  quietly  dur 
ing  the  summer  of  1748.  Sir  William  was, 
however,  by  no  means  idle  personally  during 
this  interim.  The  abortive  attempts  that  had 
been  made  in  1745,  '46  and  '47  to  mobilize  the 
Provincial  forces  of  New  York  quickly  had 
shown  that  the  militia  of  Albany  County  was 
in  a  state  of  utter  disorganization.  Albany 
County  at  that  time  embraced  the  whole  of 
New  York  Colony  north  and  west  of  Dutchess 
and  Ulster  counties,  together  with  the  present 
State  of  Vermont.  While  this  vast  county 
was,  on  the  whole,  sparsely  populated,  the 
fact  that  it  embodied  the  whole  northern  and 
western  frontier  open  to  invasion  from  Can 
ada,  made  its  militia  organization  of  para 
mount  importance.  In  June,  1748,  as  soon 
as  he  was  sure  that  there  would  be  no  more 
hostilities,  Governor  Clinton  appointed  Sir 
William  colonel-in-chief  of  the  Albany  County 
militia,  with  directions  to  reorganize  it  on  his 
own  plan  carte  blanche.  "You  may  consider 
whatever  you  recommend  as  done,"  said  the 
Governor  in  a  personal  letter  accompanying 
the  appointment  and  instructions.  Sir  Will- 
40 


His  Early  Life  in  Ireland 

iam  thereupon  proceeded  with  his  task  and 
effected  a  new  organization,  which  stood  the 
test  of  the  next  war,  1755-62,  and  lasted  until 
the  Revolution.  The  basis  of  this  reorgani 
zation  was  regimental  in  the  more  populous 
districts,  such  as  the  valleys  of  the  Hudson 
and  the  lower  Mohawk,  and  independent  com 
panies  in  the  sparsely  settled  outlying  dis 
tricts.  Its  result  was  the  creation  of  five 
regiments  of  eight  companies  each,  having  a 
normal  strength  of  seventy-five  to  the  com 
pany,  or  six  hundred  to  the  regiment,  and 
twelve  independent  companies  of  from  sixty 
to  seventy-five  men  each. 

In  July  advices  were  received  that  the  pre 
liminary  articles  of  peace  were  signed,  and 
the  frontier  defense  force  was  disbanded. 
The  French  evacuated  Crown  Point  and  the 
Indians  on  both  sides  buried  the  hatchet. 
During  his  command  of  the  frontier  defenses 
Sir  William  made  two  permanent  improve 
ments:  he  built  through  the  forest  a  road 
practicable  for  supply  wagons  and  artillery 
from  the  head  of  Lake  George  to  Glens  Falls 
on  the  Hudson,  and  another  from  the  head  of 
Lake  Champlain,  at  Black  Mountain,  to  Fort 
Anne,  which  was  already  connected  with 
Sandy  Hill  on  the  Hudson  by  a  practicable 

road.    The  -Governor    now    appointed    him 
4  41 


Sir  William  Johnson 

permanent  colonel-in-chief  of  the  Albany 
County  militia,  and  he  returned  to  his  home 
at  Mount  Johnson,  having,  as  he  said,  "done 
a  deal  of  hard  work  for  two  years  with 
mighty  little  to  show  for  it." 

On  the  whole,  "King  George's  War,"  so 
far  as  the  colonies  were  concerned,  was  an 
abortive  affair.  Except  the  brilliant  exploit 
of  taking  Louisburg,  there  had  been  no 
action  whatever  worth  mention  in  history.  A 
few  raids  back  and  forth  by  the  French  and 
Indians  on  one  side  and  Provincial  back 
woodsmen  and  Iroquois  on  the  other;  some 
cabins  burned,  several  murders,  and  a  few 
scalps,  told  the  whole  story  for  the  interior 
frontier.  But  it  served  to  teach  the  colonies 
lessons  which  proved  of  great  value  in  the 
final  and  decisive  struggle  for  empire  in 
North  America  that  was  then  only  seven 
years  distant.  Those  lessons  were :  first,  the 
absolute  need  of  unity  in  design  and  har 
mony  in  execution;  second,  that  their  situa 
tion  required  in  peace  a  constant  prepared 
ness  for  instant  war;  and,  third,  that  the 
balance  of  power  on  the  northern  frontier  be 
tween  the  colonies  and  the  French  power  in 
Canada  was  held  by  the  Six  Nations,  and  he 
who  possessed  influence  to  hold  them  loyal 
was  the  most  important  man  in  the  colony. 
42 


His  Early  Life  in  Ireland 

And  this  war,  desultory  as  it  may  have  been, 
had  demonstrated  beyond  dispute  or  doubt 
that  that  man  was  Sir  William  Johnson. 

We  have  seen  one  good  description  of  Sir 
William  himself  and  his  household.  A  little 
later  than  this  (in  1751)  Mrs.  Julia  Grant,  the 
wife  of  Captain  (afterward  Major-General) 
Grant  of  the  British  Army,  then  in  command 
of  the  small  garrison  of  regulars  at  Albany, 
visited  Mount  Johnson  and  painted  a  por 
trait  of  Sir  William.  The  lady  was  an  art 
ist  of  no  mediocre  ability,  and  during  her 
eight  years'  sojourn  on  the  New  York  fron 
tier  painted  many  clever  portraits  of  dis 
tinguished  people,  including  Colonel  and 
Mrs.  Schuyler,  Solomon  Van  Rensselaer  and 
others.  She  also  kept  a  vivacious  journal, 
which  was  afterward  printed  in  Edinburgh. 
In  this  journal  Lady  Grant  pen-pictures  Sir 
William  as  follows: 

...  A  little  scant  of  six  feet  high — say  five 
feet  eleven  and  one-half  inches.  Neck  massive, 
shoulders  broad,  chest  deep  and  full,  limbs  large 
and  showing  every  sign  of  great  physical  strength. 
Head  large  and  finely  shaped.  Countenance  open, 
frank,  and  always  beaming  with  good-nature  and 
humor — a  real  Irishman  as  he  is  for  wit.  Eyes 
large,  a  sort  of  black-gray  or  grayish  black  in  color. 
Hair  dark  brown  with  a  tinge  of  auburn  in  certain 
43 


Sir  William  Johnson 

lights.  In  conversation,  he  is  a  most  delightful 
person,  relating  recollections  of  his  dealings  with 
the  Indians  or  discussing  the  classic  authors  or 
the  literature  of  the  day  with  equal  readiness  and 
ease.  His  mode  of  living  is  that  of  an  English  gen 
tleman  at  his  country  seat,  and  I  was  astonished  to 
find  on  this  remote  frontier,  almost  in  the  shade  of 
primeval  forest,  a  table  loaded  with  delicacies  and 
Madeiras,  ports  and  Burgundies  of  the  rarest  vint 
age.  His  table  is  seldom  without  guests,  and  his 
hospitality  is  a  byword  the  region  round.  During 
my  stay  he  had  Indian  chiefs  to  dine  with  him 
several  times.  Their  attire  was  the  same  as  white 
people,  and  for  the  most  part  they  conversed  in 
English.  This  disappointed  me,  because  I  wished 
to  sit  at  table  with  genuine  Indians  in  blankets  and 
leggings  and  talking  nothing  but  their  gibberish 
through  an  interpreter.  Among  those  I  met  at 
Colonel  Johnson's  table  were  the  venerable  and 
noble-looking  old  chief  Hendrick,  now  over  sev 
enty  years  of  age ;  his  brother  Abraham,  about  sixty 
years  of  age,  chief  of  a  Mohawk  clan  and  father 
of  Caroline,  the  beautiful  young  Indian  woman 
who  is  the  mistress  of  his  household ;  also  Nicklaus 
Brant,  chief  of  the  Upper  Castle  Mohawks,  a  man 
of  prodigious  silence  and  the  most  grave  and  sol 
emn  courtesy.  .  . 

Colonel  Johnson  is  the  soul  of  method.  At 
breakfast  I  tell  him  I  wish  a  half -hour's  sitting 
some  time  in  the  day.  We  agree  on  an  exact  time 
by  the  clock.  The  Colonel  then  mounts  his  horse 

44 


His  Early  Life  in  Ireland 

and  dashes  here  and  there  about  his  estate  over 
seeing  everything.  At  the  appointed  moment  he 
dismounts  at  the  door  and  is  ready  for  the  sitting. 
"When  the  half  hour  is  done  he  is  away  again  as 
swiftly  as  he  came.  He  must  have  fifty  or  sixty 
people  in  his  employ  besides  the  negroes  and  he 
oversees  everything  that  they  do.  Marvellous! 
And  then  he  attends  to  a  mass  of  complicated  pub 
lic  business  besides! 


CHAPTEE   II 

DOMESTIC   LIFE   AND   THE   ALBANY 

CONGRESS 

1745-1754 

WE  may  now  turn  briefly  from  the  public 
to  the  private  side  of  Sir  William  Johnson's 
life.  Late  in  1745  his  white  wife,  Katharine, 
died  suddenly,  leaving  him  with  three  little 
children — Anne,  five  years  old;  John,  three; 
and  Mary,  a  baby  one  year  old.1  At  first  he 


1  Parkman,  in  his  Montcalm  and  Wolfe  (vol.  i,  p. 
briefly  surveys  the  character  of  Sir  William  Johnson  from  the 
Boston  point  of  view.  Its  tone  is  half -cynical,  half-patron 
izing,  and  it  may  be  left  without  comment  so  far  as  Sir  Will 
iam  is  concerned.  But  in  the  course  of  it  he  goes  clear  out  of 
his  way  to  cast  a  slur  upon  the  memory  of  Katharine  Weisen- 
burg,  who,  though  an  unpretentious  Mohawk  Dutch  girl,  was 
an  honorable  woman,  a  faithful  wife,  and  a  devoted  mother. 
After  a  brief  description  of  Mount  Johnson  he  says:  "Here 
presided  for  many  years  a  Dutch  or  German  wench  whom  he 
(Sir  William)  finally  married." 

This  is  not  only  a  painfully  ill-natured  but  a  grossly  inac 
curate  statement.  Johnson  married  Katharine  Weisenburg 
within  a  week  after  he  had  bought  her  indentures  from  Mr. 
Phillips,  as  previously  related  ;  and  she  never  "presided  "  at 
Mount  Johnson  except  as  his  wife.  Whether  she  was  a 

46 


Domestic  Life  and  Congress 

employed  as  nurse  for  them  a  worthy  woman 
to  whom  history  has  given  no  more  intimate 
recognition  than  the  remark  that  she  was  a 
"Dutch  widow."  She  was  undoubtedly  a 
faithful  nurse,  but  Sir  William  soon  detected 
that  his  little  daughter  Anne  and  his  little  son 
John,  who  were  just  beginning  to  talk,  rapidly 
acquired  the  Mohawk  Dutch  "  brogue  "  of 
their  nurse.  This  he  did  not  desire.  So  he 
found  other  employment  in  his  establishment 

"  wench  "  or  not  may  be  a  question  of  lexicography  as  between 
Boston  and  the  rest  of  mankind.  The  fact  is  that,  in  this 
silly  slur  upon  the  memory  of  a  good  woman,  Parkman  be 
trays  the  besetting  weakness  that  mars  in  many  places  the 
results  of  his  wonderful  research  and  often  besmears  the  gen 
eral  purity  of  his  style.  That  weakness  was  his  inexorable 
prejudice  and  incorrigible  bias  in  favor  of  everything  and 
everybody  of  Massachusetts  and  against  everything  and  every 
body  everywhere  else.  The  reader  of  Parkman  and  Park- 
man  alone  would  imagine  that  Massachusetts,  almost  single- 
handed,  sustained  the  brunt  of  all  the  French  and  Indian 
wars,  and  finally,  with  some  trifling  assistance  from  the  Brit 
ish  navy  and  a  few  English  regulars,  drove  the  French  out 
of  North  America  !  As  for  the  other  colonies,  they  simply 
looked  on.  Their  men,  most  of  whom  were  "boors,"  cut  little 
or  no  figure  in  the  contest,  and  their  women  were  mainly 
"wenches." 

In  Sir  William's  case  the  grudge  was  personal.  Massa 
chusetts,  who  furnished  the  largest  contingent  both  of  men 
and  supplies  for  the  campaign  of  1755,  bitterly  resented  the 
appointment  of  a  New  Yorker  to  the  supreme  command.  Her 
people  considered  Colonel  (afterward  General)  Phineas  Ly- 
man  entitled  to  the  leadership.  Parkman  simply  inherited 
the  local  spite  and  jealousy  of  his  province. 

47 


Sir  William  Johnson 

for  the  good  Dutch  woman,  and  secured  the 
services  of  a  middle-aged  Scotch-Irish  wom 
an,  the  widow  of  a  non-conformist  minister 
of  New  York  city,  whom  Lady  Warren  found 
available  and  sent  to  him.  This  lady  proved 
an  ideal  nursery-governess,  because  she  was 
not  only  a  capable  nurse,  but  a  well-educated 
woman  besides,  and  able  to  instruct  the  chil 
dren  as  well  as  to  care  for  them.  The  name 
of  this  lady  was  Mrs.  Barclay  (also  spelled 
"Barkley  "  in  some  of  the  manuscripts),  and 
she  passed  the  rest  of  her  life  under  the  John 
son  roof.  Sir  William  now  remained  in  single 
blessedness  about  two  years,  beset  by  match 
makers,  from  his  aunt,  Lady  Warren,  in  New 
York,  to  his  aristocratic  friends  in  Albany. 
But  in  the  fall  of  1747  he  astonished  all  his 
friends. 

One  of  his  biographers — and  by  far  the 
best  of  them  in  a  general  sense — writing  of 
the  events  of  the  year  1748,  says  (Stone,  p. 
327,  vol.  i) : 

It  was  about  this  period — though  I  have  not  been 
able  to  learn  the  exact  date — that  Colonel  Johnson 
employed  as  his  housekeeper  Mary  Brant,  or  "Miss 
Molly"  as  she  was  called,  a  sister  of  the  celebrated 
Chief  Thayendanegea  (Joseph  Brant),  with  whom 
he  lived  until  his  decease,  and  by  whom  he  had 
several  children. 

48 


Domestic  Life  and  Congress 

In  the  Brant  manuscripts  the  statement  is 
made  by  the  chief  that  he  was  born  in  1742, 
and  that  his  sister  Mary  was  "nearly  seven 
years  his  senior."  This  would  have  brought 
the  date  of  Mary's  birth  in  the  year  1735, 
and  she  would  therefore  have  been  in  her 
thirteenth  year  in  1748 — an  age  hardly  ripe 
enough  for  the  domestic  responsibilities  of 
such  an  establishment  as  that  of  Sir  William. 
However,  "  about  this  time  " — that  is  to  say, 
late  in  1747 — he  did  employ  a  young  Indian 
woman  as  his  housekeeper;  but  she  was  not 
Mary  Brant,  who,  by  the  way,  did  not  achieve 
that  distinction  until  about  six  years  later. 

This  young  woman  was  a  daughter  of  the 
Chief  Abraham,  sachem  of  the  Lower  Castle 
Mohawks,  and  when  she  attracted  the  atten 
tion  of  Sir  William  was  about  twenty-two 
years  old.  She  was  reputed  to  be  the  hand 
somest  girl  in  the  Iroquois  nation.  Indeed, 
there  is,  or  used  to  be,  among  the  older  resi 
dents  of  the  Mohawk  Valley  a  tradition  that 
Abraham's  wife  was  a  white  woman  of  Hol 
land  Dutch  antecedents.  If  so,  this  girl  was 
a  half-breed.  And,  more  important  than 
that,  if  the  legend  be  true,  her  elder  sister, 
who  married  Nicldaus  Brant  and  became  the 
mother  of  Joseph  and  Mary,  was  a  half-breed 
also,  which  would  put  a  strain  of  white  blood 
49 


Sir  William  Johnson 

in  the  veins  of  the  great  captain — unquestion 
ably  the  greatest  of  American  Indians.  I  do 
not  believe  this  tradition.  Chief  Abraham's 
wife  may  have  been  an  unusually  light-col 
ored  Indian  woman.  The  Iroquois  were  uni 
versally  lighter  in  complexion  than  any  other 
American  Indians,  and  the  Mohawks  and 
Oneidas  were  the  lightest  of  all.  So  marked 
was  this  peculiarity,  taken  together  with  their 
superior  civilization,  that  some  of  the  early 
writers — mainly  Jesuit  Fathers — considered 
them  a  different  race  from  the  common 
aborigines. 

A  noted  student  of  Indian  life  and  char 
acter,  Professor  Donaldson,  explains  it  on 
purely  physical  grounds,  which  is  doubtless  the 
true  view.  He  says  that  for  generations — 
even  before  the  white  man  was  known  on  these 
shores — the  Iroquois  had  lived  in  comfort 
able  habitations,  tilled  the  soil,  raised  grain 
and  fruits,  and,  generally  speaking,  had  much 
better  shelter,  better  cookery,  better  sanitary 
arrangements,  and  altogether  more  of  the 
good  things  of  life  than  any  other  Indians. 
This  mode  of  living  had  tended  to  "  bleach 
out  "  their  complexions  and  endow  them  with 
other  physical  advantages  of  which  for  cen 
turies  they  had  availed  themselves  to  gain 
an  ascendency  among  Indian  nations  that 
50 


Domestic  Life  and  Congress 

finally  came  to  be  undisputed.  We  may, 
therefore,  take  it  for  granted  that  Chief 
Abraham's  wife  was  simply  unusually  white 
even  for  a  Mohawk  woman,  but  a  full-blooded 
Indian  nevertheless. 

The  girl  who  placed  herself  under  Sir 
William's  protection  was,  like  all  the  Hen- 
drick  family,  Christianized.  She  had  been 
baptized  under  the  name  of  Caroline,  and  had 
received  as  complete  an  education  as  the  mis 
sion  school  at  Fort  Hunter  and  a  private 
school  in  Schenectady  could  impart.  The 
relation  she  so  willingly  assumed  to  Sir  Will 
iam  may  seem  equivocal  in  the  lights  of  our 
time;  but  whether  there  was  any  marriage 
ceremony  or  not,  it  was  a  case  of  unconcealed 
cohabitation,  accompanied  by  child-bearing, 
which,  after  all,  under  the  statutes  of  those 
days,  amounted  to  a  common-law  marriage. 

At  this  point  the  view  adopted  by  W.  Max 
Eeid  of  Amsterdam,  N.  Y.,  author  of  a  most 
excellent  History  of  the  Mohawk  Valley,  is 
of  interest.  It  may  be  premised  that  Mr. 
Keid  is  more  thoroughly  conversant  with  the 
history,  legends,  and  traditions  of  the  Mo 
hawk  Valley  than  any  other  man  now  living, 
and  probably  more  so  than  any  other  man 
ever  was,  except  Horatio  Seymour.  In  one 
of  his  entertaining  papers  recently  published 
51 


Sir  William  Johnson 

Mr.  Reid  remarks  on  the  history  and  geneal 
ogy  of  the  two  most  famous  families  in  the 
Iroquois  Nation: 

I  have  been  informed  on  indubitable  authority 
that  after  the  death  of  Katharine  Weisenburg,  the 
mother  of  his  son,  John,  and  daughters,  Mary  and 
Nancy,  he  (Sir  William)  had  a  Dutch  widow  as 
housekeeper,  but  that  she  did  not  remain  with  him 
long,  as  her  place  was  taken  in  1747  by  a  niece  of 
Hendrick,  being  the  daughter  of  his  brother,  Abra 
ham,  who  is  frequently  spoken  of  in  the  Documen 
tary  History  of  New  York.  As  in  the  case  of  Molly 
Brant,  Sir  William  did  not  wed  this  Indian  girl, 
who  took  the  English  name  Caroline.  She  had 
three  children  by  Sir  William — one  son  and  two 
daughters.  The  son  was  named  William  and  the 
daughters  Charlotte  and  Caroline.  The  mother 
died  in  giving  birth  to  the  third  child.  William 
was  the  first  born.  This  half-breed  son  is  the  Will 
iam  Johnson,  alias  Tag-che-un-to,  who  is  mentioned 
in  Sir  William's  will  as  "William  of  Canajoharie." 
The  date  of  Caroline's  death  was  in  1753,  which 
consequently  makes  the  birth  of  Caroline,  the  half- 
breed,  in  1753 ;  and  the  installation  of  Molly  Brant 
as  Sir  William's  mistress  was  subsequent  to  that 
date.  Probably  this  occurred  soon  after  the  death 
of  Caroline  as  her  daughters  (Charlotte  and  Caro 
line)  are  said  to  have  been  adopted  by  Molly  and 
treated  by  her  as  her  own  children,  while  William, 
the  half-breed  boy,  was  mainly  raised  by  his  grand- 
52 


Domestic  Life  and   Congress 

father,  Abraham,  or  his  uncle,  " Little  Abe/'  at 
Canajoharie  Castle  at  Danube. 

The  history  of  the  two  daughters  is  of  interest. 
Charlotte,  the  eldest,  married  a  young  British 
officer  shortly  before  the  Revolution,  but  who  after 
ward  joined  the  Continental  army  and  fell  at  Mon- 
mouth  Court  House.  His  name  was  Henry  Randall. 
They  had  two  children,  one  named  Charlotte  Ran 
dall,  who  married  George  King.  George  and 
Charlotte  King  had  a  daughter  Charlotte,  who  was 
the  grandmother  of  my  informant.1 

The  other  daughter  of  Molly  Brant's  predeces 
sor  (Caroline)  whose  name  was  also  Caroline,  mar 
ried  a  man  named  Michael  Byrne,  a  clerk  in  Sir 
William 's  office  of  Indian  affairs.  Byrne  was  killed 
at  Oriskany  in  Butler's  Rangers.  His  young 
widow,  Caroline  Johnson,  went  with  the  Brants  to 
Canada  and  afterward  married  an  Indian  agent 
named  MacKim,  whose  descendants  are  still  living 
in  Canada. 

Brant,  who  went  to  England  with  Hendrick  and 
others  in  1710,  was  the  grandfather  of  Joseph  and 
Molly  Brant.  When  Joseph  was  born,  in  1742,  his 
grandfather  was  probably  between  sixty  and  sev 
enty  years  old.  Brant's  father  was  called  Nickus, 
or  Nicklaus,  by  the  Dutch.  Stone  anglicizes  the 
name  and  calls  him  Nicholas  Brant.  He  must  have 

1  There  was  a  third  child — a  boy — named  Morgan  Randall, 
after  General  Daniel  Morgan,  in  whose  riflemen  Henry  Ran 
dall  served. 

53 


Sir  William  Johnson 

been  at  least  thirty  years  old  when  Joseph  was 
born,  and  Molly  was  at  least  six  years  older  than 
Joseph. 

The  mother  of  Joseph  and  Molly  was  also  a 
daughter  of  Abraham  (the  brother  of  Hendrick) 
and  a  sister  or  half-sister  of  " Little  Abe"  of  the 
lower  castle  at  Fort  Hunter.  This  made  her  a  niece 
of  Hendrick  also,  and  a  sister  of  the  girl  Caroline, 
who  went  to  live  with  Sir  William  in  1747. 

It  is  also  said  that  Joseph  Brant's  wife  was  a 
daughter  of  the  Oneida  chief  of  Sauquoit,  and  her 
mother  was  a  daughter  of  Hendrick.  So  it  will 
be  seen  by  the  foregoing  that  the  families  of  Brant 
and  Hendrick  were  closely  interrelated.  As  Molly 
Brant's  mother  was  the  sister  of  Caroline,  Molly's 
predecessor  was  her  own  aunt,  and  Sir  William 
might  be  called  her  uncle. 

Eeturning  to  William  Johnson,  the  half-breed 
mentioned  in  his  will:  He  was  educated  by  Sir 
William  at  Dr.  Wheelock's  school  at  Lebanon, 
Conn.,  and  was  at  the  battle  of  Oriskany  with 
Brant.  Here  he  was  killed  in  a  hand-to-hand  con 
flict  with  the  half-breed  Thomas  Spencer,  who 
played  a  conspicuous  part  with  Herkimer's  troops 
and  at  the  siege  of  Fort  Schuyler.  Incidentally, 
Thomas  Spencer  is  said  to  have  been  a  son  of  the 
missionary,  Rev.  Elihu  Spencer,  by  an  Oneida  girl, 
and  was  born  at  Oghwaga  about  the  year  1755. 

About  a  year  after  the  death  of  Caroline 
Hendrick,  Sir  William  offered  Ms  protection 
54 


Domestic  Life  and  Congress 

and  affection  to  Mary  Brant.  She  accepted, 
and  outlived  him;  their  life  together  during 
a  period  of  twenty  years — 1754-74 — having 
been  by  universal  account  of  the  times  happy 
and  affectionate.  Mary  Brant  was  not  as 
handsome  or  as  majestic  a  woman  as  her  aunt 
and  predecessor,  Caroline,  but  she  was  a  very 
pretty  girl  nevertheless,  and  developed  into  a 
woman  of  much  tact,  sterling  virtues,  and  a 
model  housewife.  She  was  about  nineteen 
years  old  when  she  accepted  the  protection  of 
Sir  William,  and  survived  him  many  years. 
She  bore  him  nine  children — two  boys  and 
seven  girls — but  one  of  the  latter  died  in 
infancy.  Of  these  children  the  eldest  was  a 
boy,  to  whom  they  gave  the  name  of  Peter 
Warren  Johnson,  after  the  admiral;  the 
second  was  a  girl  named  Elizabeth,  the  third 
a  girl  named  Magdalene,  the  fourth  a  girl 
named  Margaret,  the  fifth  a  boy  named 
George,  the  sixth  a  girl  named  Mary,  the 
seventh  a  girl  named  Susanne,  and  the  eighth 
a  girl  named  Anne. 

In  the  text  of  his  will  he  describes  these  as 
"my  natural  children  by  my  housekeeper, 
Mary  Brant." 

Young  William  Johnson  is  the  only  one 
of  Caroline  Hendrick's  children  mentioned  or 
provided  for  in  the  will.  But  this  may  be  ex- 
55 


Sir  William  Johnson 

plained  on  the  ground  that  the  two  girls, 
Charlotte  and  Caroline,  had  been  married 
some  time  before  his  death — Charlotte  in  1770 
or  '71  and  Caroline  a  year  or  two  later — and 
Sir  William  had  undoubtedly  made  what  he 
considered  sufficient  provision  for  them  in 
the  marriage  settlements. 

When  the  Tories  were  expelled  from  the 
Mohawk  Valley  in  1776,  two  years  after  the 
death  of  Sir  William,  Mary  Brant  and  her 
children  went  with  them  and  settled  on  Grand 
Eiver,  or  the  Oise,  as  the  French  called  it. 
Of  the  two  sons — Peter  and  George — no  trace 
seems  to  have  been  left  in  history.  The  six 
girls  all  married  white  men,  one  of  them 
becoming  the  wife  of  Dr.  Kerr,  a  surgeon  in 
the  British  army.  Mrs.  Kerr  was  an  accom 
plished  woman,  a  clever  writer,  and  wrote  two 
or  three  interesting  little  books  on  the  cus 
toms  and  beliefs  of  the  race  to  which  she  half 
belonged. 

There  was  a  legend,  which  most  of  Sir 
William's  biographers  have  adopted,  to  the 
effect  that  his  attention  was  first  attracted  to 
Mary  Brant  at  a  militia  muster  in  Canajo- 
harie.  It  was  said  that  she  mounted  the 
horse  of  an  officer  and  rode  furiously  around 
the  parade-ground  several  times,  her  long 
black  hair  and  loose  red  robes  streaming  in 
56 


Domestic  Life  and  Congress 

the  wind ;  at  last,  riding  up  to  where  the  great 
man  stood,  lost  in  admiration,  and  leaping 
gracefully  from  the  back  of  the  panting 
steed  into  his  stalwart  arms. 

All  this  is  very  pretty ;  but  the  fact  is  that 
Sir  William  had  known  Mary  Brant  from  the 
time  she  was  ten  years  old,  his  intimate 
acquaintance  with  Nicklaus  Brant  and  his 
family  having  begun  very  soon  after  his  first 
settlement  at  Warrensbush.  When  Caroline 
Hendrick  was  in  her  fatal  illness  her  sister, 
Brant's  wife,  came  to  nurse  her,  and  Mary 
accompanied  her  mother.  Not  long  after  that 
the  arrangement  was  made  by  which  Mary 
became  the  mistress  of  his  household. 

Mary  Brant  had  been  educated  in  the 
common  English  branches  in  the  Manor 
school  at  Canajoharie,  where  her  father  lived 
before  he  became  chief  of  the  Upper  Castle 
Mohawks.  He  had  a  comfortable  frame 
house  at  Canajoharie  and  lived  and  dressed 
altogether  after  the  fashion  of  white  men. 
The  female  members  of  his  family  were  never 
made  to  do  the  usual  drudgery  of  squaws. 
He  owned  a  good  farm  close  to  the  town  and 
cultivated  it  as  well  as  any  of  his  white  neigh 
bors.  He  was,  as  Mrs.  Grant  says,  "a  man 
of  prodigious  silence  " — noted  for  his  taci 
turnity  and  for  his  keen  faculty  of  observa- 
5  57 


Sir  William  Johnson 

tion  as  well.  Whenever  Sir  William  had  an 
extremely  delicate  mission  to  fulfil  with  the 
Cayugas  or  Senecas,  who  were  usually  more 
or  less  recalcitrant,  he  always  sent  Nicklaus 
Brant.  Beyond  question,  Sir  William's  inti 
mate  connection  with  the  Hendrick  and  Brant 
families  was  more  potent  than  any  other 
agency  in  giving  him  the  control  and  ascend 
ency  over  the  Iroquois  which  he  so  success 
fully  maintained  through  the  twenty-odd  try 
ing  and  troublous  years  that  immediately  pre 
ceded  the  Revolution.  Many  times,  when  Sir 
William  got  hold  of  an  obdurate  and  trouble 
some  delegation  of  Senecas  or  Cayugas,  he 
would  turn  them  over  to  "Lady  Molly,"  as 
she  was  commonly  called  after  he  was  made  a 
baronet — which  was  the  next  year  after  their 
alliance — and  she  "never  failed  to  'Mollyfy' 
them,"  as  he  used  to  say.  Of  this  period  in 
Sir  William's  life,  Dr.  Wheelock  says: 

I  have  seen  at  Mount  Johnson  and  also  at  John 
son  Hall  sixty  to  eighty  Indians  at  one  time  lodg 
ing  under  tents  on  the  lawn  and  taking  their  meals 
from  tables  made  of  pine  boards  spread  under  the 
trees.  They  were  delegations  from  all  the  Iroquois 
tribes,  come  to  pow-wow  with  their  great  white 
brother,  " Warragh-i-ya-gey "  (the  Indian  name 
they  gave  to  Sir  William  when  they  adopted  him 
into  the  Iroquois  nation  and  gave  him  a  council- 
58 


O       55 

W       | 
g      & 


//    p  V 

(I          OF  THE         \ 
UUNIVERSITY  1 

Domestic  Life  and  Congress 

seat  in  the  ' l  Long  House  " ) .  These  visits  must  have 
been  very  expensive  to  Sir  William,  and  he  told 
me  that  never  more  than  half  their  cost  was  de 
frayed  out  of  the  public  exchequer. 

* '  They  say, ' '  said  the  baronet  to  me  once,  '  *  that 
it  is  not  right  or  fair  that  I  should  be  superintend 
ent  over  the  Indians  and  an  Indian  trader  at  the 
same  time.  Why,  bless  me,  doctor,  my  profits  from 
the  Indian  trade  do  not  reimburse  me  for  my  outlay 
in  entertaining  these  delegations  and  giving  pres 
ents  to  their  members ! 

"The  Indians  are  honest,"  he  pursued.  "I 
have  often  supplied  one  Indian  or  a  small  party 
living  as  far  away  as  the  Southern  Senecas  on 
Cattaraugus  Creek  or  the  Conewango — I  have  often 
supplied  such  with  a  complete  hunting  and  trap 
ping  outfit — guns,  ammunition,  traps,  etc.,  with 
blankets,  woolen  shirts,  and  other  clothing — all 
on  absolute  credit.  If  they  did  not  die  or  get 
killed  by  the  Catawbas  or  Shawnese — their  natural 
enemies — they  would  always  come  back  and  pay  as 
soon  as  they  got  wherewithal  to  pay  with." 

Griffis,  in  his  Life  of  Sir  William  John 
son,  says  that  "after  the  death  of  his  wife, 
Catharine,  Sir  William  lived  with  various 
mistresses,  etc."  But  Mr.  Eeid,  a  much  more 
studious  and  careful  historian,  rejects  this 
tradition.  It  is  true  that  the  baronet  lived  in 
a  morganatic  fashion  with  two  Indian  women 
at  different  times.  But  all  the  circumstantial 
59 


Sir  William  Johnson 

evidence  points  to  the  conclusion  that  lie  was 
faithful  to  them,  and  that  he  was  not  in  the 
least  degree  inclined  to  promiscuous  licen 
tiousness.  He  was  always  as  solicitous  for 
the  welfare  of  his  half-breed  children  as  any 
father  could  be  for  any  children;  and  as  he 
was  temperate  and  moderate  in  all  things,  it 
is  fair  to  presume  that  he  was  equally  so  in 
his  relations  with  women,  white  or  red.  In 
fact,  the  dignity  he  had  to  maintain  to  hold 
his  influence  over  the  Indians  must  have  been 
sacrificed  instantly  had  this  been  otherwise. 
The  truth  undoubtedly  is  that  he  was  true 
and  constant  to  the  two  Indian  women  with 
whom  he  lived  openly  in  the  sight  of  every 
body — living  with  one  of  them  about  six 
years  and  with  the  other  twenty  years. 

This  survey  of  Sir  William's  peculiar 
domestic  life  has  carried  us  to  a  point  far 
ahead  of  the  main  thread  of  our  narrative; 
but  necessarily  so,  because  I  considered  it 
advisable  to  treat  that  branch  of  the  subject 
in  a  single  sketch,  rather  than  filter  its  inci 
dents  here  and  there  in  detached  parts 
throughout  his  history.  Many  students  of 
Sir  William's  life  and  some  of  his  biogra 
phers — notably  Griffis — have  chosen  to  be 
lieve,  or  affected  to  believe,  that  his  selection 
of  Indian  mistresses  for  the  head  of  his  do- 
60 


,     Domestic  Life  and   Congress 

mestic  establishment,  when  he  could  have  had 
his  pick  among  refined,  well-connected,  and 
thoroughly  educated  white  women,  argues  the 
lurking  of  a  debased  trait  in  his  otherwise 
lofty  character. 

On  this  point,  it  seems  to  me,  that  argu 
ment  would  be  wasted.  Without  discussion, 
I  am  inclined  to  believe  with  Mr.  Reid,  that 
the  element  of  statecraft  entered  largely  into 
the  sum-total  of  reasons  for  these  singular 
alliances,  and  that  he  chose,  first,  Caroline 
Hendrick,  and,  after  her,  Mary  Brant,  because 
he  wanted  a  housewife  who  could  make  his 
Indian  guests — of  whom  his  house  was  sel 
dom  in  lack — feel  at  home.  His  fortunes 
depended  on  his  influence  with  the  Indians. 
Without  that  he  could  never  have  been  any 
thing  more  than  a  settler  in  the  Mohawk  Val 
ley;  richer,  perhaps,  than  his  neighbors,  but 
still  only  a  settler.  His  command  of  the  Iro- 
quois  just  at  the  time  when  their  adherence 
to  the  British  cause  was  vital  to  the  objects 
of  British  policy,  made  him  the  most  impor 
tant,  if  not  actually  the  greatest,  man  in  the 
colony.  No  white  woman  could  have  made 
Sir  William's  red  henchmen  feel  at  home  in 
his  house  as  Caroline  Hendrick  or  Mary 
Brant  could.  If  this  was  one  of  his  mo 
tives,  it  was  creditable  at  least  to  his  ambi- 
61 


Sir  William  Johnson 

tion,  if  not  to  his  sense  of  propriety.  But  the 
point  of  propriety  itself  must  be  measured  by 
the  standard  of  morality  prevailing  in  his 
days,  not  ours.  And  even  if  Caroline  and 
Mary  were  only  housekeepers  or  mistresses, 
and  if,  as  he  says  in  his  will,  their  children 
were  only  "natural/'  yet  his  fidelity  to  them 
and  his  affection  and  solicitude  for  the  chil 
dren  they  bore  him  can  not  be  forgotten  or 
neglected  in  the  scales  of  charity. 

Returning  now  to  consideration  of  Sir 
William's  public  life,  it  may  be  said  that  after 
the  peace  of  Aix  -  la  -  Chapelle  he  passed 
nearly  a  year  in  almost  undivided  attention 
to  the  affairs  of  his  estate.  The  only  inter 
ruption  of  any  note  he  experienced  was  the 
arrangement  and  management  of  a  grand 
council,  at  Albany,  of  the  governors  of  the 
New  England  colonies,  New  York,  New  Jer 
sey,  Pennsylvania,  and  Virginia  with  the 
chiefs  of  the  Indians  friendly  to  the  English 
and  the  colonists,  or  who  were  willing  to  be 
friendly  in  the  future.  This  grand  council 
was  opened  on  the  20th  of  July,  and  lasted 
about  ten  days.  There  were  present  seven 
colonial  governors,  each  accompanied  by 
members  of  his  staff;  thirty  Indian  chiefs  of 
high  rank,  each  attended  by  several  espe 
cially  distinguished  warriors  of  his  tribe ;  and 
62 


Domestic  Life  and  Congress 

the  Indian  superintendents  of  Virginia,  Penn 
sylvania,  Massachusetts,  and  New  York. 

The  Iroquois  were  by  no  means  alone 
in  representation.  Chiefs  were  there  from 
the  Delawares  of  western  Pennsylvania;  the 
fierce  and  hitherto  untamable  Shawnese  of 
what  is  now  Ohio;  Mingoes,  Wyandots,  Adi- 
rondacks — who  came  from  territory  claimed 
and  hitherto  held  by  the  French — together 
with  the  "River  Indians  "  (remnants  of  the 
former  Pequots,  Mohegans,  Narragansetts, 
and  other  aborigines  of  New  England).  Per 
haps  the  most  interesting  figure  in  this  assem 
blage  was  the  great  war-chief  of  the  Genesee 
Senecas,  Hi-o-ka-to,  who  for  years  had 
vowed  that  he  would  never  speak  one  word 
with  an  Englishman.  Hi-o-ka-to  was  the 
husband  of  the  celebrated  Mary  Jemison,  a 
white  woman,  who,  captured  by  the  Algon- 
quins  when  a  little  girl,  had  been  retaken  by 
the  Senecas,  and  adopted  by  them.  As  soon 
as  she  grew  to  womanhood  Hi-o-ka-to,  then  a 
redoubted  warrior  and  knight  errant  of  the 
tribe,  nearly  forty  years  of  age,  asked  her 
to  share  his  wigwam — or  rather  his  house 
— which  was  a  comfortable  log  cabin.  She 
consented,  and  lived  with  him  until  his  death, 
many  years  afterward.  She  wrote  a  narra 
tive,  which  is  doubtless  the  most  interesting 
63 


Sir  William  Johnson 

personal  description  of  life  among  the  Indi 
ans  ever  printed.  In  it  she  says  of  her  stal 
wart  brave  after  his  death : 

Ferocious  as  he  may  have  heen  on  the  war 
path,  and  savage  as  he  may  have  been  in  battle,  I 
can  only  say  that  no  husband  could  have  been 
kinder  to  wife  than  he  was  to  me,  and  no  man, 
white  or  any  other  color,  could  have  been  gentler 
than  he  was  when  inside  the  four  walls  of  our 
cabin.  In  all  our  life  together,  he  never  spoke  one 
cross  word  to  me,  and  I  have  often  seen  him  curb 
his  fierce  temper  toward  others  simply  because  I 
happened  to  be  present. 

Governor  Clinton  and  Sir  William  consid 
ered  it  a  great  point  gained  when  Hi-o-ka-to 
was  induced  to  attend  this  conference.  Sav 
age  as  he  was,  the  Seneca  war-chief  did  not 
lack  ready  wit.  Some  years  later,  during 
another  council,  Sir  William,  in  a  bantering 
way,  asked  him  in  the  Iroquois  tongue,  "Why 
didn't  you  bring  your  white  wife  with  you, 
Hi-o-ka-to  !  I  would  like  to  introduce  her  to 
my  Indian  wife."  "Because,"  replied  the 
chief,  "I  was  afraid  you  white  folks  would 
steal  her,  the  same  as  you  do  pretty  much 
everything  else  we  poor  Indians  have  that  is 
worth  stealing !  " 

A  remarkable  and  somewhat  amusing 
feature  of  this  grand  council  was  the  fact  that 
64 


Domestic  Life  and   Congress 

the  venerable  senior  chief  of  the  Iroquois, 
Hendrick,  was  unable  to  attend,  and  asked 
the  council  to  accept  his  brother  Abraham  as 
his  representative — giving  as  the  reason  the 
fact  that  he  was  at  that  moment  prostrated 
by  an  acute  attack  of  inflammatory  gout!  A 
rather  singular  malady  for  an  American  In 
dian  !  Perhaps  the  old  chief  had  availed  him 
self  too  freely  of  his  nephew-in-law's  prover 
bial  liberality  with  his  "crusty  old  port  "  and 
"nut-brown  Madeira!" 

Toward  the  end  of  the  grand  council — on 
its  sixth  day — Chief  Abraham  made  a  speech, 
addressed  particularly  to  the  Senecas  and 
Cayugas.  This  speech  was  provoked  by  some 
remarks  made  by  Onnasdego,  chief  of  the 
Onondagas,  in  which  that  orator  accused  the 
English  of  neglecting  the  western  Iroquois, 
and  thereby  leaving  their  hearts  open  to  the 
blandishments  of  the  French  emissaries. 
Abraham  spoke  in  English,  so  that  the  assem 
bled  governors  and  members  of  their  staffs 
could  readily  understand  what  he  was  say 
ing.  But  he  had  provided  interpreters  to 
translate  his  speech  as  he  went  along  to  those 
Indians  present  who  could  not  understand 
the  English  language.  Lack  of  space  forbids 
reproduction  of  his  remarks.  One  quotation 
may  serve  as  a  sample : 
65 


Sir  William  Johnson 

"You  complain,"  he  said,  "that  the  English, 
the  Colonists,  do  not  trust  you.  How  can  they  when 
you  do  not  trust  them  ?  There  can  be  no  confidence 
between  two  unless  both  share  it  alike.  There  can 
never  be  faith  on  one  side  and  doubt  on  the  other 
without  distrust  on  both  sides.  And  wherever 
there  is  distrust  no  real  friendship  can  exist.  You 
Western  Iroquois  listen  to  the  silver  tongues  of 
French  priests  and  emissaries  whose  only  object 
is  to  lure  you  to  ruin  that  their  cause  may  profit 
by  it.  They  do  not  love  you.  They  would  not 
give  you  a  gourdful  of  succotash  if  you  were  starv 
ing.  But  when  have  the  English  and  the  Colonists 
failed  to  help  you  in  distress?  Put  away  the 
French!  Send  them  across  the  Lake!  Tell  them 
to  practise  their  bows  and  scrapes  and  grimaces 
upon  the  stupid  Indians  of  Canada — not  upon  the 
noble  Iroquois!" 

To  Abraham's  speech  a  reply  was  made  by 
Kayaghshota,  chief  of  the  "Old  Castle"  or 
Lake  Senecas,  whose  village  occupied  the  pres 
ent  site  of  Geneva.  No  record  of  the  Seneca's 
speech  seems  to  have  been  preserved.  Mr. 
Croghan,  who  kept  the  minutes  of  the  council, 
says  simply  that  it  was  "an  eloquent  and 
plausible  defense  of  the  vacillating  conduct  of 
his  tribe."  Kayaghshota,  it  may  be  interesting 
to  remark,  was  the  nncle  of  the  famous  Eed 
Jacket — probably  the  most  accomplished  and 
powerful  orator  the  Indian  race  ever  produced. 
66 


Domestic  Life  and   Congress 

This  grand  council  was  one  of  the  most 
picturesque  events  in  the  history  of  the  colo 
nies.  Many  of  the  chiefs  brought  their 
wives  with  them,  and  some  brought  their 
children.  All  were  provided  with  new  cloth 
ing  by  Governor  Clinton  as  soon  as  they 
arrived,  together  with  a  liberal  supply  of  the 
gaudy  ornaments  so  much  prized  by  the  Indi 
ans;  and  the  streets  of  Albany  were  daily 
thronged  by  the  gaily  clad  sons  and  daugh 
ters  of  the  forest  enjoying  an  ovation  far 
beyond  their  wildest  dreams.  For  many 
years  afterward  the  proudest  boast  of  an 
Indian  would  be:  "I  was  at  the  great  Albany 
Council!"  Stone  says: 

The  old  Dutch  city  had  in  fact  seldom  witnessed 
such  a  sight.  Here  were  gathered  Indians  from  the 
far  West,  many  of  whom  were  destined  to  redden 
their  tomahawks  in  the  blood  of  so  many  brave 
garrisons  under  the  great  Pontiac.  Here  were 
many  of  the  River  Indians — remnants  of  once  pow 
erful  tribes — whose  grandfathers  had  followed 
Uncas  and  Miantonomoh  to  battle,  and  had  taken 
their  last  stand  with  the  ill-fated  King  Philip.  In 
one  spot  a  painted  warrior  might  have  been  seen 
smoking  his  pipe  as  he  recounted  to  his  wonder 
ing  companions  the  sights  seen  in  his  morning's 
stroll;  while  everywhere  groups  of  picturesquely 
attired  Indians,  with  nodding  plumes  and  varie 
gated  blankets,  wandered  through  the  streets  gaz- 
67 


Sir  William  Johnson 

ing  with  curious  eye  upon  the  novelties  of  civili 
zation. 

The  results  of  this  council  were  more  sat 
isfactory  and  on  a  larger  scale  than  any  pre 
viously  held.  The  Iroquois  renewed  all  their 
ancient  covenants  with  the  king.  The  Sen- 
ecas,  who  had  never  before  formally  acknowl 
edged  the  covenants  of  1684  and  1710,  now 
gave  in  their  complete  adhesion  through  Hi-o- 
ka-to,  Captain  Jean  Montour1  (himself  a 

1  There  were  three  Montours :  Jean,  born  about  1715, 
Andre,  born  about  1720,  and  Henry.  They  were  the  sons  of 
Catharine  Montour  by  a  young  half-breed  chief  of  the  Niagara 
Senecas,  who  took  her  name.  Catharine  Montour  was  a 
daughter  of  the  Count  de  Frontenac  by  a  Huron  woman.  She 
was  born  at  Fort  Frontenac  about  1692,  and  her  name  figures 
in  a  curious  old  document  called  Accusation  against  Louis  de 
Buade,  Comte  de  Frontenac,  in  which,  among  other  things, 
he  is  charged  with  "debasing  the  morals  of  the  colony  by 
propagating  more  than  sixty  half-breeds ! "  Jean  and  Andre 
Montour  were  both  chiefs  of  high  rank  in  the  Seneca  nation. 
Catharine  Montour  received  a  good  education  in  a  convent  at 
Montreal.  But  in  1710,  during  Queen  Anne's  War,  while 
journeying  from  Montreal  to  Fort  Frontenac,  she  was  cap 
tured  by  a  raiding  party  of  Senecas  and  taken  to  their  village 
at  Black  Rock.  Here  she  soon  afterward  married  the  young 
chief,  who  took  her  name  and  she  seemed  perfectly  contented. 
At  any  rate,  upon  the  exchange  of  captives  that  followed  the 
Peace  of  Utrecht,  she  refused  to  leave  her  husband  and  spent 
her  life  among  the  Senecas.  After  the  death  of  her  husband 
in  1735  she  became  female  chief,  or  Queen  in  her  own  right, 
and  ruled  the  Niagara  and  Southern  Senecas  until  her  death 
in  1752.  She  carefully  educated  her  children,  Jean,  Andre, 

68 


Domestic  Life  and  Congress 

French  half-breed),  and  the  Tonawanda  chief 
"Black  Loon  ";  all  of  whom  had  hitherto  been 
opposed  to  English  influence.  They  agreed 
to  expel  all  French  emissaries  and  priests 
from  their  territory,  and  they  also  promised  to 
arrest  the  most  pestiferous  of  them,  "Jean 
Coeur,"  l  and  deliver  him  up  to  the  Colonial 
authorities.  They  never  kept  this  promise, 
but  they  expelled  "Jean  Coeur  "  with  the  rest. 
They  agreed  to  hold  no  further  communica 
tion  with  the  French,  to  forbid  the  residence 
of  French  interpreters  in  their  midst,  and  to 
prohibit  all  trade  or  barter  with  French  tra 
ders  ;  together  with  many  other  things  the 
English  desired. 

Henry,  and  three  girls.  One  of  her  grandchildren  was  the 
famous  "Queen  Esther,"  who  practically  commanded  the  In 
dians  in  the  massacre  of  Wyoming.  Jean  and  Andre  Mon- 
tour  were  conspicuous  in  the  old  French  War,  in  Pontiac's 
Rebellion,  and  in  the  Revolution.  They  were  good  warriors 
and  hard  fighters,  but  held  reputations  for  humanity  equal  to 
that  of  Joseph  Brant.  Henry  never  achieved  fame. 

1  In  the  text  we  have  followed  the  orthography  of  the 
Colonial  Documentary  Records;  but  there  was  no  ''Jean 
Coeur."  The  person  meant  was  Joncaire,  a  captain  in  the 
French  service  and  for  many  years  the  principal  agent  and 
emissary  of  the  Canadian  Government  among  the  Western 
Indians.  We  shall  have  occasion  to  refer  to  him  frequently 
later  on.  At  the  time  under  consideration  he  was  what  might 
be  called  "principal  intelligence  officer"  of  the  Canadian 
Department  of  Indian  Affairs,  and  had  his  headquarters  at 
Fort  Niagara. 

69 


Sir  William  Johnson 

The  Governor  then  requested  them  to  give 
a  list  of  articles  they  needed  to  make  good 
their  losses  during  the  late  war.  The  list 
was  rather  formidable.  Among  other  things, 
they  wanted  a  thousand  guns,  with  hunting- 
knives,  hatchets,  flints,  and  ammunition;  two 
thousand  blankets;  a  large  quantity  of  red 
flannel  cloth;  farming  utensils,  such  as  hoes, 
spades,  iron  plows,  sickles,  axes,  etc. ;  cooking 
utensils ;  some  large  kettles,  suitable  for  ma 
king  salt  from  the  salt-springs,  and  maple-1 
sugar  from  the  sap  of  trees,  etc.,  etc.  The 
total  footed  up  prodigiously.  But  the  Gov 
ernor — or  the  assembled  governors — prom 
ised  that  the  list  should  be  filled  out,  and  they 
kept  their  word. 

Prior  to  Sir  William  Johnson's  time  it  had 
not  been  the  policy  to  arm  the  Indians  indis 
criminately.  But  he  took  the  view  that  unless 
well  armed  and  practised  in  the  use  of  their 
weapons,  they  would  be  of  little  value  as 
allies,  and  from  his  first  official  connection 
with  Indian  affairs  he  had  done  all  he  could 
to  provide  them  with  serviceable  guns  and 
plenty  of  ammunition.  At  that  time  the  rifle 
was  little  known  outside  of  the  trading-zone  of 
Old  Lancaster,  Pa.,  where  the  manufacture  of 
rifled  weapons  in  America  was  begun  by  a 
colony  of  Swiss  gunsmiths  in  1729 — hardly 
70 


Domestic  Life  and  Congress 

twenty  years  before  the  Albany  Council — 
and,  at  the  time  under  consideration  (1749), 
Lancaster  still  enjoyed  the  monopoly  of  rifle- 
making  in  this  country.  A  few  specimens 
had  found  their  way  into  New  York,  and  Sir 
William  had  a  very  fine  one,  made  by  Deck- 
ert,  which  he  bought  while  attending  the 
Treaty  Council  at  Lancaster  in  1744.  But 
the  production  of  rifles  was  limited,  and  there 
was  nothing  like  a  general  supply  of  them. 

The  regulation  musket — cumbrous,  heavy, 
and  carrying  an  ounce  ball — was  not  suited  to 
the  use  of  the  Indians,  who  wanted  a  lighter 
gun  of  smaller  bore.  So,  among  the  first 
things  Sir  William  did  when  he  became  Indian 
Commissioner,  was  to  design  a  gun  specially 
adapted  to  the  Indian's  requirements.  It  was 
three  feet  long  in  the  barrel  and  about  four 
feet  two  inches  over  all,  smooth  bore,  carried 
a  half-ounce  spherical  bullet,  and  could  be 
used  either  with  ball  or  with  small  shot.  This 
was  known  for  many  years  as  the  "Indian- 
trade  smooth  bore,"  and  was  not  completely 
supplanted  by  the  rifle  on  the  frontier  until 
after  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
The  barrels  and  locks  were  made  and  proved 
in  Birmingham  and  then  shipped  to  this  coun 
try,  where  the  stocks  were  fitted  by  Colonial 
gunsmiths.  Twelve  hundred  of  these  guns 
71 


Sir   William  Johnson 

were  ordered  immediately  after  the  council, 
and  in  due  time  they  were  in  the  hands  of  the 
Indians.  The  other  articles  wanted  were 
more  easily  procured,  and  the  distribution  of 
them  was  begun  at  once. 

Philip  Van  Courtlandt,  who  as  a  young 
boy  attended  this  council  with  his  father,  the 
Patroon,  relates  the  amusing  incident  that 
Hi-o-ka-to  took  a  great  fancy  to  the  garb  of  a 
Highlander  he  happened  to  see  in  Albany,  and 
asked  the  Governor  to  give  him  a  Highland 
outfit.  The  Governor  succeeded  in  finding  a 
shirt,  kilt,  and  tartan  that  would  fit  his  stal 
wart  proportions,  and  the  great  war-chief  of 
the  Genesee  Senecas  strutted  around  Albany 
as  a  Highlander  to  the  infinite  delight  of  the 
rising  generation  and  the  admiration  of  the 
women  of  his  own  race.  And  long  afterward 
it  was  his  custom  to  appear  on  state  occasions 
in  his  own  tribe  clad  in  the  plaid  and  tartan  of 
the  Forty-second  Highlanders.  The  council 
adjourned  the  30th  of  July,  with  a  grand  out 
door  banquet,  at  which  were  present  over  a 
hundred  Indians  and  as  many  white  people. 
Then  the  Indians  went  quietly  back  to  their 
forests  and  peace  reigned  supreme. 

The  next  two  years  passed  without  special 
event.  Sir  William  had  recently  come  into 
possession  of  another  large  tract  of  land, 
72 


Domestic  Life  and  Congress 

which  was  patented  in  1753  as  the  "Kingsboro 
Patent " — though  he  took  possession  of  his 
part  of  it  and  began  to  improve  it  more  than 
two  years  before  the  date  of  the  patent.  This 
afterward  became  known  as  the  "Johnstown 
tract."  It  lay  some  distance  north  of  the 
Mohawk  River  and  several  miles  west  of 
Mount  Johnson.  Improving  this  new  tract 
and  managing  his  great  farm  and  mills  on 
the  Chuctenunda  near  Mount  Johnson,  to 
gether  with  his  official  duties  as  Indian  Su 
perintendent,  colonel-in-chief  of  the  Albany 
County  militia,  and  king's  magistrate,  must 
have  kept  his  hands  full.  Yet  he  found  a 
good  deal  of  time  for  writing  and  reading, 
and  for  such  diversions  as  horse-racing  and 
hunting. 

In  1751  the  first — and  perhaps  the  only — 
really  unpleasant  episode  in  his  public  career 
occurred.  During  the  late  war  he  had  ex 
pended  large  sums  of  money  from  his  private 
purse  for  the  public  service  over  and  above 
the  amounts  currently  appropriated  by  the 
Assembly.  Most  of  these  expenditures  were 
for  the  maintenance  of  the  Indians  he  had 
mobilized  for  the  two  abortive  attempts  to 
organize  expeditions  against  Crown  Point, 
and  for  the  invasion  of  Canada.  During  this 
period  he  had  also  maintained  the  white  gar- 
6  73 


Sir  William  Johnson 

rison  of  Oswego  for  a  considerable  time  be^ 
yond  the  expiration  of  a  contract  he  had  for 
that  service.  The  total  amount  of  his  private 
expenditure  in  these  directions  was  nine 
thousand  nine  hundred  and  seventy-six 
pounds  sterling  and  some  shillings  and  pence 
—nearly  $50,000. 

These  expenditures  were  under  two  heads : 
first,  those  which  had  been  submitted  to  Gov 
ernor  Clinton  and  approved  by  him  before 
disbursement ;  and,  second,  those  approved  by 
the  Governor  after  disbursement.  The  first 
amounted  to  £5,700;  the  last  to  £4,276.  Dur 
ing  the  session  of  1750-51  Sir  William  sub 
mitted  these  accounts  to  the  Committee  of 
Supply  in  the  Assembly  and  asked  reimburse 
ment.  After  long  consideration,  the  commit 
tee  reported  and  the  Assembly  passed  two 
resolutions  directing  payment  of  the  £5,700, 
which  had  been  approved  by  the  Governor 
before  disbursement.  But  they  also  passed 
a  resolution  directing  further  investigation 
of  the  £4,276,  approved  by  the  Governor  after 
disbursement.  In  debate  on  these  resolu 
tions,  during  which  Sir  William  was  present 
in  the  Assembly  Hall,  severe  animadversions 
were  made  upon  the  "close  corporation  "  that 
was  alleged  to  exist  between  the  Governor, 
Chief-Justice  DeLancey,  the  Attorney-Gen- 
74 


Domestic  Life  and  Congress 

eral,  and  Sir  William.  In  the  course  of  the 
debate  one  member  of  the  Assembly — Mr. 
Hardenburgh,  of  Ulster — referred  in  rather 
caustic  terms  to  the  fact  that  Sir  William  had 
for  several  years  "filled  the  apparently  incon 
gruous,  if  not  wholly  incompatible,  stations 
of  Superintendent  of  Indian  Affairs  and 
Indian  Trader  on  a  large  scale  at  the  same 
time!" 

After  hearing  this,  Sir  William  left  the 
hall  of  the  Assembly,  and  the  same  afternoon 
sent  a  note  to  Mr.  Hardenburgh  asking  him 
if  he  intended  by  those  remarks  to  impugn 
his  personal  integrity.  Sir  William  was  at 
that  time  the  guest  of  Mr.  DeLancey,  in 
New  York,  and  that  gentleman  carried  the 
note.  Mr.  Hardenburgh  promptly  replied  by 
inquiring  whether  he  (Sir  William)  intended 
his  note  as  preliminary  to  a  demand  for  sat 
isfaction.  To  this  Sir  William  responded  at 
once  as  follows: 

DEAR  SIR:  Replying  to  your  inquiry  in  reply 
to  my  note  by  the  hands  of  Mr.  DeLancey,  permit 
me  to  say  that  the  idea  of  a  demand  for  satisfaction 
never  entered  my  mind.  Nor  have  I  entertained 
any  thought  of  individual  grievance  at  your  hands. 
Had  you  answered  that  the  condition  of  my  ac 
counts  and  my  relation  to  the  Indians  did  seem  to 
involve  my  personal  integrity,  I  should  simply 
75 


Sir  William  Johnson 

have  given  you  the  key  to  the  vault  where  my 
books  of  account  are  kept,  and  requested  you  to 
examine  them  at  your  own  leisure  and  in  your 
own  way. 

As  for  "satisfaction,"  permit  me  to  say:  first, 
that  I  am  well  aware  of  the  parliamentary  privilege 
which  averts  personal  responsibility  for  language 
uttered  in  debate  in  a  legislative  body ;  and,  second, 
I  believe  the  practise  of  dueling  is  always  barba 
rous  and  often  murderous.  I  should  be  sorry  if 
I  thought  I  had  a  repute  for  courage  that  could  be 
sustained  only  by  fighting  duels.  Believe  me,  my 
dear  sir,  that  I  shall  always  keep  all  my  bullets 
and  all  my  marksmanship  for  the  enemies  of  my 
country!  I  shall  never  visit  them  upon  any  of 
my  own  countrymen  who  may  be  hostile  to  me 
personally. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  profound  respect, 
Your  Most  Obedient  Servant, 

WILLIAM  JOHNSON. 

It  took  a  pretty  courageous  man — and  an 
Irishman  at  that — to  thus  denounce  and  flout 
the  practise  of  dueling  in  the  year  1751.  The 
Assembly  adjourned  two  days  after  that, 
leaving  the  £4,276  for  further  consideration. 
Mr.  Hardenburgh  seems  to  have  been  im 
pressed  by  Sir  William's  attitude,  because,  at 
the  next  session,  when  Mr.  Holland  moved 
"consideration  of  the  unsettled  accounts  of 
Colonel  William  Johnson,"  Mr.  Hardenburgh 
76 


Domestic  Life  and  Congress 

seconded  the  motion,  and  an  appropriation  to 
reimburse  him  for  his  outlay  of  £4,276  of  pri 
vate  funds  in  the  public  service  was  passed 
under  suspension  of  the  rules. 

In  the  meantime,  however,  Sir  William 
had  resigned  the  office  of  Sole  Superintendent 
of  Indian  Affairs,  and,  though  the  Governor 
and  many  others  besought  him  to  withdraw 
the  resignation,  he  remained  firm.  He  knew 
very  well  that  no  one  in  the  Assembly  bore 
any  malice  toward  him  personally.  But  he 
also  knew  that  a  considerable  majority  of  the 
Assembly  hated  the  Governor,  and  that,  in 
attacking  him  about  his  accounts,  they  were 
only  clubbing  the  Governor  over  his  shoul 
ders.  Still,  it  was  a  thankless  position ;  he  was 
tired  of  the  eternal  bickerings  between  the 
Governor  and  the  Assembly,  and  he  wanted  to 
place  himself  out  of  range  of  their  fusillade. 
Besides,  his  private  business  was  being  neg 
lected,  and,  ambitious  as  he  was  for  public 
life  and  public  honors,  his  first  love  was 
always  his  home,  his  children,  his  dusky 
sweetheart,  his  horses,  his  cattle,  his  wide- 
spreading  lands,  and  his  buzzing  mills. 

Every  overture  was  made  to  him  to  resume 
the  superintendency.  Finally,  after  the  As 
sembly  had  paid  his  accounts  in  full,  he  told 
the  Governor  that  whenever  his  services  in 
77. 


Sir  William  Johnson 

dealing  with  the  Indians  might  seem  desir 
able,  he  would  accept  a  temporary  appoint 
ment  to  visit  them  or  confer  with  them  as  a 
special  envoy,  but  under  no  circumstances 
would  he  resume  the  permanent  superintend- 
ency.  The  result  was  that  the  Governor  did 
not  fill  his  place,  but  used  him  from  time  to 
time  on  special  missions,  as  occasion  required. 
The  Indians,  as  soon  as  they  heard  of  Sir 
William's  resignation,  took  it  deeply  to  heart. 
Eunners  were  sent  from  the  Lower  Mohawk 
Castle  all  through  the  Iroquois  Nation  by 
Hendrick,  asking  for  a  council  of  chiefs  post 
haste.  In  a  few  days  quite  a  delegation  gath 
ered,  including  Captain  Jean  Montour  of  the 
Senecas,  whom  the  runners  happened  to  find 
visiting  his  wife's  people  at  Onondaga  Castle. 
The  chiefs  reached  Albany,  where  the  Gov 
ernor  then  was  temporarily  staying,  late  at 
night,  and  they  waited  on  him  early  the  next 
morning,  requesting  a  private  interview. 
This  was,  of  course,  granted,  and  as  soon  as 
the  doors  were  closed,  Hendrick  said: 

We  have  come  to  consult  with  our  Brother  Cor- 
lear  (their  name  for  all  the  governors)  in  relation 
to  Colonel  Johnson.  We  have  just  heard  that  he 
has  resigned.  When  the  war  was  breaking  out, 
your  Excellency  recommended  him  to  us,  and  you 
then  told  us  that  we  might  consider  anything  he 
78 


Domestic  Life  and  Congress 

said  as  being  spoken  by  yourself.  So  as  we  had 
had  no  hand  in  his  appointment  we  have  done  noth 
ing  to  induce  his  resignation.  Judge,  therefore, 
the  shock  we  felt  when  he  sent  us  a  belt  of  love  and 
peace,  with  a  letter  saying  he  had  resigned  and 
would  be  our  superintendent  no  more.  We  can 
not  express  our  feelings.  He  must  come  back  to 
us.  No  one  can  take  his  place  in  our  hearts.  We 
can  never  learn  to  believe  the  words  of  any  one 
as  we  believed  him.  You,  or  if  you  can  not,  then 
our  Great  Father,  the  King,  must  make  him  come 
back  to  us.  We  can  not  get  along  without  him! 

Captain  Montour  then  spoke  for  the  Sen- 
ecas: 

"Our  nation,"  he  said,  "is  hard  to  control. 
There  are  many  good  Senecas,  and  also  many  bad 
ones.  But  all  love  Colonel  Johnson,  all  believe 
what  he  says,  and  all,  good  and  bad  alike,  will  listen 
to  his  words  and  have  faith  in  his  promises.  His 
tongue  is  not  forked.  He  always  speaks  with  one 
tongue.  In  peace,  he  was  like  a  fertile  field  that 
raised  corn  and  pumpkins  and  melons.  In  war,  he 
was  like  a  tree  that  grew  for  us  to  bear  fruit,  but 
now  seems  to  be  falling  down,  though  it  has  many 
roots  sunk  deep  in  the  soil  of  our  affection,  our 
confidence,  and  our  esteem.  His  knowledge  of  our 
affairs,  our  laws,  and  our  language  made  us  think 
he  was  not  like  other  white  men,  but  an  Indian 
like  ourselves.  Not  only  that,  but  in  his  house 
is  an  Indian  woman,  and  his  little  children  are 
79 


Sir  William  Johnson 

half-breeds,  as  I  also  am,  your  Excellency  knows 
— only  I  am  a  French  half-breed  and  Colonel 
Johnson's  little  children  are  English  half-breeds. 
We  understand  that  he  declines  to  return  to  his 
office.  This  makes  us  afraid  you  will  have  to  ap 
point  some  one  in  his  place  who  does  not  know  us 
— some  person  who  is  a  stranger  to  us  and  to  our 
affairs.  We  therefore  ask  you  to  compel  him  to 
resume  his  office  of  superintendent,  or  if  you  can  not 
compel  him  yourself,  to  send  a  letter  asking  our 
Great  Father,  the  King,  to  compel  him.  We  know 
that  he  will  obey  the  King.  Please  tell  the  King,  if 
you  write  to  him,  that  we  want  Colonel  Johnson 
over  us,  and  no  one  else.  He  has  keen  ears  and 
hears  a  great  deal,  and  what  he  hears  he  tells  to 
us  truthfully.  He  also  has  sharp  eyes,  and  sees  a 
long  way  ahead,  and  conceals  nothing  from  us." 

After  hearing  these  speeches  the  Governor 
adjourned  the  interview  till  the  next  morning 
at  nine  o'clock,  when  lie  promised  the  chiefs 
that  he  would  answer  them.  The  Governor's 
reason  for  deferring  his  reply  to  the  chiefs 
was  that  he  expected  Sir  William  to  reach 
Albany  that  evening,  and  wished  to  see  him 
before  making  a  definite  answer.  Johnson 
arrived  about  seven  o'clock,  and  the  Governor 
at  once  called  upon  him.  He  was  visibly  af 
fected  when  the  Governor  told  him  what  the 
chiefs  had  said,  but  persisted  in  his  declina 
tion  to  resume  office.  He  finally  agreed,  how- 
80 


Domestic  Life  and  Congress 

ever,  to  deal  with  the  Indians  in  his  personal 
capacity  whenever  the  Governor  might  con 
sider  such  services  essential  to  the  public  wel 
fare.  But  he  declared  he  would  hold  no  offi 
cial  position  calculated  to  bring  him  into  con 
tact  with  what  he  termed  "that  factious  and 
malignant  majority  in  the  Assembly." 

The  next  morning  the  Governor  and  Sir 
William  called  on  the  chiefs  together,  and 
explained  the  situation  to  them.  They  were 
partly  appeased,  and  the  whole  affair  was  left 
in  statu  quo.  No  successor  to  Sir  William 
was  appointed,  but,  in  his  personal  or  unoffi 
cial  capacity,  he  continued  to  supervise  the 
Indian  affairs  of  the  colony  almost  as  closely 
as  he  had  done  while  in  office.  Under  such 
conditions  the  years  1751  and  1752  passed 
without  incident  of  special  note;  the  French 
secretly  pushing  their  preparations,  the  Brit 
ish  and  Colonial  governments  resting  su 
pinely. 

In  1753  the  signs  of  impending  war  began 
to  multiply.  The  movements  of  the  French 
to  take  actual  possession  of  the  Ohio  Valley 
had  at  last  roused  the  English  and  Colonial 
governments  to  a  sense  of  peril,  and  they 
began,  rather  slowly  and  clumsily,  to  take 
measures  for  safety.  In  1748,  at  the  close  of 
"King  George's  War,"  a  company  had  been 
81 


Sir  William  Johnson 

formed  in  Virginia,  of  which  Lawrence  and 
Augustine  Washington  were  members,  called 
the  "Ohio  Land  Company."  This  corpora 
tion  secured  a  grant  of  600,000  acres  on  the 
south  side  of  the  Ohio  River,  between  the 
Monongahela  and  the  Great  Kanawha.  Both 
the  French  and  Indians  held  that  the  King  of 
England  had  no  right  to  grant  lands  in  that 
region.  The  Indians  owned  the  land  and  the 
French  claimed  sovereignty  by  right  of  orig 
inal  discovery,  exploration,  settlement  in  the 
shape  of  trading  establishments,  and  free 
travel  to  and  fro  with  consent  of  the  Indians. 
According  to  the  ethics  of  those  days,  these 
acts  constituted  a  prime  basis  for  the  claim  of 
sovereignty. 

The  English  based  their  counterclaim 
mainly  upon  their  old  treaty  with  the  Iroquois 
in  1684,  at  Albany,  confirmed  in  1710,  and  re 
confirmed  at  Lancaster,  Pa.,  in  1744.  By 
that  treaty  the  English  undertook  to  defend 
the  domain  of  the  Iroquois,  and  the  latter  had 
claimed  jurisdiction  over  the  Ohio  Valley  and 
all  lands  drained  by  its  tributaries,  "as  far 
south  as  the  Chilhowee  or  Great  Smoky 
Mountains."  This  was  purely  a  claim  of 
rapine!  For,  while  the  Iroquois  had  in  ear 
lier  days  frequently  invaded  the  Ohio  coun 
try  and  subdued  its  aboriginal  inhabitants, 
82 


Domestic  Life  and   Congress 

they  had  never  attempted  permanently  to 
occupy  the  territory.  Their  invasions  were, 
in  fact,  simply  raids,  and  they  had  come  and 
gone,  leaving  wreck  and  ruin  in  their  tracks, 
much  like  the  Tartar  hordes  when  they  in 
vaded  Hindostan,  or  the  Goths,  Vandals,  and 
Huns  when  they  overran  Europe. 

That  the  Iroquois  were  and  had  been  for 
centuries  the  most  powerful  Indian  nation 
east  of  the  Mississippi,  and  had  frequently 
invaded  and  ravaged  the  territory  of  their 
weaker  neighbors  on  all  sides  of  them,  was 
undeniable ;  but  that  mere  rapine  and  ravage 
should  constitute  a  basis  of  permanent  sov 
ereignty  was  a  theory  that  only  Indian 
schools  of  international  law  would  be  likely  to 
teach.  However,  England  was  willing  to  ac 
cept  such  a  basis  for  her  own  claim  of  sov 
ereignty  in  the  Ohio  Valley,  and,  as  the 
sequel  proved,  she  was  willing  to  fight  for  it  to 
the  death.  The  fact  is,  the  English  states 
men  were  never  serious  about  this  shadowy 
claim.  They  laughed  at  it  themselves  over 
their  dinner-tables  and  their  Madeira.  The 
real  truth  was  that  they  had  finally  made  up 
their  minds  to  oust  the  French  from  North 
America  altogether,  and  one  pretext  was  as 
good  as  another. 

In  the  spring  of  1752  the  Ohio  Company 
83 


Sir  William  Johnson 

sent  a  daring  backwoodsman,  named  Chris 
topher  Gist,  to  explore  their  grant  of  land. 
Gist  went  as  far  west  as  the  mouth  of  the 
Great  Kanawha,  and  on  his  return  in  the 
autumn  made  an  interesting  report.  This 
was  the  first  effort — even  pretense — the  Eng 
lish  had  ever  made  to  explore  the  country  they 
claimed.  Event  now  followed  event  in  quick 
succession.  The  Governor  of  Virginia,  Din- 
widdie,  sent  a  company  of  frontiersmen, 
under  Captain  Trent,  to  the  head  of  the  Ohio, 
where  they  built  a  small  log  fort.  Captain 
Trent  had  forty-one  men.  In  April,  1754,  a 
French  and  Indian  force  about  700  strong 
came  down  the  Allegheny  River  and  invested 
the  little  fort.  As  the  French  had  four  pieces 
of  artillery,  Captain  Trent  saw  that  resist 
ance  would  be  hopeless,  and  he  at  once  ac 
cepted  the  terms  offered  by  the  French  com 
mander,  Captain  Contrecoeur. 

The  little  garrison  marched  out  with  the 
honors  of  war  and  Contrecoeur  at  once  pro 
ceeded  to  enlarge  the  fort,  mounted  his  can 
non  on  its  ramparts,  and  took  formal  posses 
sion  of  the  Ohio  Valley  in  the  name  of  the 
King  of  France.  Then  followed  Washington's 
advance  to  Great  Meadows,  and  his  skirmish 
with  a  scouting  party  of  French  and  Indians 
under  de  Jumonville,  who  was  killed  with  ten 
84 


Domestic  Life  and  Congress 

of  his  men,  and  the  rest,  twenty-two  in  num 
ber,  wounded  or  taken  prisoners.  Then  came 
the  building  of  "Fort  Necessity"  and  its 
capitulation  a  few  days  afterward  to  a  force 
of  about  seven  hundred  French  and  Indians 
under  Captain  de  Villiers.  This  ended  the 
operations  of  1754,  and  left  the  French  in  full 
control  west  of  the  mountains.  The  "Old 
French  War  "  was  now  fairly  on.  The  French 
had  gained  the  first  success ;  the  English  were 
slowly  getting  ready  to  fight. 

During  the  period  whose  events  in  the 
Ohio  Valley  we  have  thus  briefly  sketched, 
affairs  in  the  northern  colonies  remained  in 
a  quiet  state  until  late  in  the  fall  of  1753, 
when  alarming  rumors  reached  Sir  William 
Johnson  of  the  presence  of  numerous  French 
emissaries  among  the  Senecas,  and  of  great 
discontent  on  the  part  of  the  Western  Iro- 
quois  generally.  Lieutenant-Governor  DeLan- 
cey  was  then  acting  Governor,  and  he  at  once 
requested  Sir  William  to  visit  the  Senecas 
and  do  what  he  could  to  quiet  them.  Though 
it  was  late  in  December,  and  considerable 
snow  was  on  the  ground,  Sir  William  did  not 
shrink  from  a  winter  journey  on  horseback 
between  Mount  Johnson  and  Kanandagea,  the 
principal  town  of  the  Senecas.  The  distance 
was  about  160  miles.  There  was  a  fair  road 
85 


Sir  William  Johnson 

to  Fort  Stanwix,  and  a  good  bridle-path  from 
there  to  Onondaga  Castle ;  the  rest  of  the  way 
there  was  nothing  but  Indian  trails.  How 
ever,  there  were  comfortable  Indian  villages 
along  the  route,  where  he  was  sure  to  find 
hearty  welcome  and  the  best  that  the  simple 
hospitality  of  the  Iroquois  afforded,  which, 
to  a  great  extent,  mitigated  the  rigors  of  the 
journey.  On  this  occasion  Sir  William  took 
with  him  only  his  half-breed  orderly,  John 
Abiel,  and  Nicklaus  Brant,  who  had  then  just 
become  chief  of  the  Upper  Castle  Mohawks. 
The  journey  was  made  in  seven  days ;  but  Sir 
William  stopped  one  day  to  visit  Hi-o-ka-to 
in  his  village  at  Genesee  Falls.  He  found 
no  French  emissaries  at  Hi-o-ka-to's  town, 
though  the  chief  told  him  some  had  appeared 
there  a  fortnight  before,  and  he  had  peremp 
torily  sent  them  away.  "But  you  will  find 
plenty  of  them  farther  west,"  he  said.  Hi-o- 
ka-to  then  saddled  his  horse  and  accompanied 
Sir  William  on  his  journey. 

Arriving  at  the  Seneca  capital,  Sir  Will 
iam  was  heartily  welcomed.  The  council- 
house,  a  commodious  log  building,  having  a 
puncheon  floor  (split  and  hewn  logs)  and  a 
large  fireplace,  was  allotted  for  his  accom 
modation,  with  several  attendants.  A  feast 
was  made  in  his  honor,  and  all  the  warriors 
86 


Domestic  Life  and  Congress 

present  in  the  town  were  introduced  to  him 
by  Hi-o-ka-to.  No  French  emissaries  were 
found,  but  he  was  informed  that  several 
French  traders  from  Niagara  had  been  there 
recently.  The  only  Frenchman  at  Kananda- 
gea,  to  the  great  surprise  of  Sir  William, 
proved  to  be  the  redoubtable  Captain  Jon- 
caire  himself,  who  had  arrived  two  or  three 
days  before  him.  The  captain,  when  he 
learned  that  Sir  William  was  in  town,  made 
no  effort  to  avoid  him,  but,  in  fact,  paid  him 
a  visit  the  day  after  his  arrival.  He  assured 
Sir  William  that  his  presence  at  the  Seneca 
capital  had  no  political  significance,  but  was 
merely  a  visit  to  old  friends.  He  reminded 
Sir  William  that  ten  years  of  his  boyhood  and 
youth  had  been  passed  at  this  town  as  a  cap 
tive,  adopted  into  the  tribe,  and  jocularly 
remarked  that,  though  he  returned  to  Canada 
when  about  twenty  years  old,  he  was  still  a 
Seneca  by  adoption,  and,  as  such,  was  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  English  Superintendent 
of  Indian  Affairs  for  the  Iroquois  nation! 
He  told  Sir  William  about  the  visit  of  Major 
George  Washington  to  his  trading-post  at 
Venango,  a  month  or  so  previous  to  this  time. 
Major  Washington  was  at  Venango  on  his 
way  to  Fort  LeBoeuf,  on  a  tour  of  observa 
tion  for  Governor  Dinwiddie,  during  Novem- 
87, 


Sir  William  Johnson 

ber  of  that  year,  and  be  also  stopped  there  a 
couple  of  days  on  his  return  journey.  In  his 
journal  of  that  mission,  Washington  says  that 
Captain  Joncaire  was  very  polite  and  enter 
tained  him  handsomely.  This  was  the  first 
news  Sir  William  had  received  of  Washing 
ton's  tour  of  observation  along  the  Allegheny 
line  of  French  posts.  It  was  highly  impor 
tant  news  to  him,  because  it  indicated  that  Vir 
ginia  had  begun  to  move  in  earnest  with  regard 
to  the  Ohio  question.  As  Joncaire  bore  a  re 
lation  to  Indian  affairs  on  the  French  side  in 
many  respects  analogous  to  that  borne  by  Sir 
William  on  the  English  side,  their  accidental 
meeting  at  the  Seneca  capital  in  midwinter 
was  an  interesting  occurrence. 

A  singular  incident  of  this  casual  meeting 
of  Sir  William  Johnson  and  Captain  Joncaire 
in  the  Seneca  capital  was  the  fact  that  neither 
one  of  them  could  speak  or  understand  the 
other's  mother  tongue.  Joncaire  had  no 
knowledge  of  English  and  Sir  William  knew 
nothing  of  French.  Both,  however,  could 
speak  the  Iroquois  tongue  as  fluently  as  an 
Indian  orator,  and  it  was  in  that  language 
that  they  held  all  their  conversations.  It  is 
doubtful  whether  a  similar  instance  ever 
occurred  in  the  careers  of  two  men  as  promi 
nent  in  their  respective  countries  as  these  two. 
88 


Domestic  Life  and  Congress 

Sir  William  remained  at  Kanandagea 
about  a  week,  and  then  returned  home  by  easy 
stages,  stopping  a  day  or  two  at  each  impor 
tant  village  on  his  route,  and,  as  he  expressed 
it,  "thoroughly  feeling  the  pulse  of  the  Sene- 
cas,  Cayugas,  and  Onondagas."  His  con 
clusion  was  that  the  stories  about  French 
emissaries  had  been  exaggerated,  and  that 
their  operations  had  been  confined  mainly  to 
the  Western  Senecas  living  near  Niagara,  and 
on  the  Tonawanda,  or  to  the  southern  branch 
of  the  tribe  in  the  valleys  of  Cattaraugus 
Creek  and  the  Conewango. 

The  rest  of  the  winter  and  the  spring  of 
1754  passed  without  particular  incident  in  the 
colony  of  New  York.  But  at  the  end  of  June, 
that  year,  an  event  occurred  of  primary  im 
portance.  It  was  the  convention  at  Albany 
of  delegates  from  the  colonies  of  New  Hamp 
shire,  Ehode  Island,  Connecticut,  New  York, 
New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  and  Maryland  to 
form  a  plan  of  concerted  action  in  the  war 
which  all  now  saw  to  be  inevitable.  There 
had  been  meetings  of  Colonial  governors 
before,  but  this  was  the  first  instance  of  a  con 
vention  or  congress  of  delegates  chosen  for 
the  specific  purpose  of  forming  a  Colonial 
Union.  Virginia  and  the  Carolinas  were  not 
represented  except  by  letters  from  their  gov- 
?  89 


Sir  William  Johnson 

ernors  approving  the  scheme,  and  saying  that 
they  would  cooperate  in  any  program  the  con 
vention  might  adopt.  "In  fact,  gentlemen," 
wrote  Governor  Dinwiddie  of  Virginia,  "the 
war  is  at  my  back  door  already,  and  I  have 
my  hands  full.  I  will  try  to  keep  my  own 
frontier  intact,  and  that  is  all  I  can  do.  You 
must  take  care  of  the  northern  frontier." 
The  governors  of  the  Carolinas  wrote  in  a 
similar  vein. 

With  this  Congress  met  also  delegations 
from  the  Six  Nations,  from  the  Delawares  of 
western  Pennsylvania,  and  the  Elver  Indi 
ans.  The  deliberations  lasted  several  days, 
and  the  results  were  a  resolution  to  act  to 
gether,  to  recommend  that  the  king  appoint 
Governor  Shirley  of  Massachusetts  com- 
mander-in-chief  of  the  confederated  Colonial 
forces,  and  an  agreement  as  to  the  quotas  of 
men,  money,  and  supplies  to  be  furnished  by 
each  colony  in  their  united  operations.  It 
was  agreed  that  the  eight  colonies  represented 
could  raise  and  maintain  an  effective  force  of 
25,000  men  for  general  operations;  that  Vir 
ginia  and  the  Carolinas  should  be  considered 
as  doing  their  share  if  they  effectively  de 
fended  their  own  frontiers,  and  furnished 
contingents  for  any  movement  that  might  be 
made  against  the  French  posts  on  the  Ohio. 
90 


Domestic  Life  and  Congress 

Three  commissioners  were  appointed  to  go  to 
England  and  lay  the  whole  situation  before 
the  king  and  his  ministers.  They  were  in 
structed  to  ask  that  at  least  twelve  thousand 
British  regulars  be  sent  over  at  once,  and  that 
the  -fleet  on  the  North  American  station  be 
increased  to  a  force  sufficient  to  blockade  the 
St.  Lawrence  and  cut  off  communication  be 
tween  France  and  Canada. 

On  the  part  of  the  Indians,  it  was  agreed 
that  they  should  furnish,  upon  call,  a  force 
of  at  least  one  thousand  picked  warriors 
for  general  service,  provided  their  command- 
er-in-chief  should  be  Sir  William  Johnson. 
And  in  addition  to  these,  the  Indians  under 
took  to  raise  a  force  of  at  least  six  hundred 
more  to  help  repel  any  attempt  the  French 
might  make  against  Oswego,  or  any  other  sali 
ent  point  within  the  territory  of  the  Six  Na 
tions.  The  Indians  also  stipulated  that  their 
warriors,  when  in  the  field,  should  receive  the 
same  pay,  rations,  and  clothing-allowance  as 
the  provincial  troops.  And  that  if,  upon 
inspection,  the  gun  of  any  warrior  should  be 
found  disabled  or  unserviceable,  he  should 
receive  a  new  one  free  of  cost ;  also  that  each 
warrior,  when  mustered  for  actual  service, 
should  receive  a  new  blanket,  a  red  flannel 
shirt,  a  blue  hunting- jacket  with  red  trim- 
91 


Sir  William  Johnson 

ming,  and  a  pair  of  stout  leather  or  buckskin 
leggings ! 

Having  settled  all  these  things,  the  Con 
gress  of  1754  at  Albany  adjourned,  subject  to 
recall  at  any  time  by  Governor  Shirley  of 
Massachusetts.  That  Congress  was  the  em 
bryo  of  another  Congress  that  met  twenty 
years  later  at  Philadelphia — whose  history, 
has  been  heard  round  the  world ! 


92 


CHAPTER   III 

BRADDOCK'S  DEFEAT  AND  THE  BATTLE 
OF  LAKE  GEORGE 

1752-1754 

IN  order  that  a  clear  and  accurate  concep 
tion  may  be  formed  of  the  relative  conditions 
prevailing  in  their  respective  North  American 
colonies  at  the  time  when  England  and  France 
began  their  final  and  decisive  struggle  for 
empire  on  the  continent,  it  is  necessary  to  sur 
vey,  first,  the  numerical  strength  of  each  Colo 
nial  establishment  in  white  people;  second, 
the  numerical  strength  and  general  fighting 
power  of  the  Indian  tribes  under  the  control 
of  or  in  alliance  with  each;  third,  the  meth 
ods  of  each  respectively  in  dealing  with  the 
Indians;  and,  fourth,  the  effect  of  their  di 
verse  methods  in  winning  and  holding  the 
fealty  of  the  Indian  tribes. 

With  regard  to  the  relative  numbers  of 

white  people  resident  in  the  North  American 

colonies  of  the  two  countries,  it  may  be  said 

that  at  the  beginning,  or  just  before  the  be- 

93 


Sir  William  Johnson 

ginning,  of  the  French  war,  the  Marquis  Du- 
quesne,  then  (1752)  just  appointed  Governor- 
General  of  Canada,  reported  that  there  were 
in  all  the  French  Canadian  possessions  then 
known  as  New  France  a  white  male  popula 
tion  of  22,000,  inclusive  of  the  royal  or  regular 
troops  then  garrisoning  the  various  military 
strongholds  in  Canada.  As  these  troops  at 
that  time  numbered  about  3,000  to  3,500,  it 
follows  that  the  civilian  white  adult  male 
population  of  all  French  Canada  in  1752  did 
not  exceed  19,000.  The  English  colonies, 
stretching  along  the  Atlantic  coast  from 
Maine  to  Georgia,  had  at  the  same  time  nearly 
if  not  quite  1,600,000  people,  of  whom  at  least 
200,000  were  adult  males.  At  first  glance  any 
one  would  say  that  a  contest  between  22,000 
men  on  one  side  and  200,000  or  thereabouts  on 
the  other,  would  necessarily  be  a  farce,  but  as 
a  matter  of  fact,  it  took  the  200,000,  backed  by 
all  the  power  of  England,  seven  years  to  con 
quer  the  22,000.! 

1  It  is  unquestionable  that  the  marquis,  in  his  estimate  of 
22,000,  etc.,  meant  to  include  only  males  capable  of  bearing 
arms  or  of  military  age.  This  would  have  embraced  all  males 
between  sixteen  and  sixty  years  old  under  the  militia  regula 
tions  then  prevailing  in  "New  France."  He  must  have  had 
in  mind  only  the  able-bodied  male  population,  because  Vol 
taire,  writing  of  the  same  period,  says:  "...  And  while  the 
population  of  British  America  was  over  1,200,000,  that  of  all 

94 


Braddock's  Defeat 

During  the  progress  of  the  seven  years' 
struggle,  the  white  French  population  of 
Canada  was  increased  by  some  3,000  or  4,000 
civilian  adventurers,  and  the  French  Govern- 

Canada,  Cape  Breton,  and  Louisiana  could  not  have  exceeded 
80,000  souls."  If  Voltaire's  estimate  of  the  total  white  popu 
lation — 80,000 — and  Duquesne's  estimate  of  the  number  of 
males  capable  of  bearing  arms — 18,000  to  19,000  besides  the 
regular  troops — were  both  correct,  it  would  argue  an  extraor 
dinarily  large  proportion  of  adult  males — about  one  in  every 
four  of  the  total  population — but  that  was  always  true  of 
Canada  under  French  rule.  The  adult  males  outnumbered 
the  grown  women  in  a  proportion  never  less  than  two  to  one. 
This  was  because  as  a  rule  Frenchmen  came  to  Canada  single 
and  formed  alliances  with  Indian  women.  The  immigration 
of  married  men  with  their  families  was  exceptional. 

Dr.  Woodrow  Wilson,  in  his  History  of  the  American  Peo 
ple,  says  (p.  4,  vol.  ii)  that  "probably  there  were  not  more 
than  12,000  Frenchmen,  all  told,  in  America  when  William 
became  king  (1689)."  This,  of  course,  was  sixty-three  years 
prior  to  the  Marquis  Duquesne's  estimate  of  the  number  of 
males  capable  of  bearing  arms,  and  about  the  same  length  of 
time  previous  to  Voltaire's  estimate  of  80,000  of  all  sexes  and 
ages.  However,  on  p.  98  of  the  same  volume,  Dr.  Wilson, 
writing  of  the  period  of  1750-52,  adopts  Voltaire's  estimate  of 
80,000  as  the  total  white  population  of  Canada  at  the  outbreak 
of  the  old  French  War.  But  Voltaire's  estimate  of  the  total 
white  population  of  the  English  colonies  in  1753,  which  in 
his  own  original  phrase  is  "plus  que  douze-cent  mille"  [more 
than  1,200,000],  is  too  low.  No  census  was  taken  in  those 
days.  The  tide  of  immigration  was  not  at  flood.  We  had  by 
Franklin's  estimate  about  2,500,000  white  people  in  the  Amer 
ican  colonies  in  1776.  Taking  the  two  extremes  and  calcu 
lating  on  the  basis  that  an  actuary  would  adopt,  we  have 
figured  out  that  the  total  population  of  the  Anglo-American 
colonies  in  1753  was  not  less  than  one  million  six  hundred 

95 


Sir  William  Johnson 

ment  succeeded  in  reenforcing  its  garrisons 
or  its  field  force  there  with  seven  regiments  of 
regular  infantry,  besides  some  small  units  of 
other  arms  of  the  service,  which  will  be  noted 
later  on. 

As  against  this  reenforcement,  it  may  be 
said  that  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the 
struggle  England  landed  in  the  colonies,  from 
time  to  time,  a  total  force  of  18,000  British 
regular  troops,  and  besides,  supported  the 
campaigns  on  land  by  an  exertion  of  her  sea 
power,  which,  during  the  last  four  years  of  the 
struggle,  practically  obliterated  all  means  of 
communication  between  France  and  her  Ca 
nadian  colonies. 

Therefore,  we  have  calculated  that  during 
the  whole  seven  years'  struggle,  the  French 
had  in  North  America,  exclusive  of  Louisiana, 
about  22,000  white  civilians  (males),  and  be- 

thousand  (1,600,000)  souls,  which  included  about  200,000 
negro  slaves.  At  any  rate,  the  first  reliable  census — 1800 
— showed  that  natural  increase  for  forty -seven  years  could 
not  have  produced  the  difference  between  Voltaire's  estimate 
of  1753  and  the  actual  count  of  1800,  for  between  those  two 
dates  the  volume  of  immigration  was  not  enough  to  make  up 
the  difference.  As  for  the  State  of  New  York,  with  which 
this  work  mainly  deals,  an  enumeration  in  1790 — seven  years 
after  the  close  of  the  Revolution — showed  a  population  of 
341,000;  and  New  York  at  that  time  was  fourth  of  the  States 
in  number  of  people,  being  exceeded  by  Massachusetts,  Penn 
sylvania,  and  Virginia. 

96 


Braddock's  Defeat 

tween  10,000  and  11,000  regular  troops.  As 
before  remarked,  this  disparity  of  numbers — 
not  less  than  ten  to  one,  so  far  as  white  males 
of  military  age  were  concerned — might  seem 
appalling,  but  when  due  account  is  taken  of 
the  radical  and  fundamental  difference  be 
tween  the  systems  of  the  two  nations  in  their 
respective  colonies,  the  numerical  inequality, 
to  a  great  extent,  loses  its  significance.  Col 
onization  from  the  English  point  of  view,  as 
practised  in  the  colonies  of  the  Atlantic  sea 
board,  meant  permanent  improvement,  home- 
making,  the  building  of  commercial  cities  and 
towns,  the  clearing  of  forests,  creation  of 
farms,  cultivation  of  the  soil,  manufactures 
of  various  kinds,  and  a  general  commerce  by 
sea  and  by  land.  The  meaning  of  this,  so  far  as 
concerned  the  Indian,  was  a  constant  policy  of 
driving  him  back,  of  obtaining  his  lands  from 
time  to  time  by  hook  or  by  crook,  by  nomi 
nal  purchase  or  by  conquest.  It  meant  also  a 
traffic  with  him  that  was  insufficiently  regu 
lated,  if  regulated  at  all,  and,  as  a  rule,  in  this 
traffic  the  Indian  was  cheated  out  of  his  prod 
ucts  with  as  little  hesitation  or  compunction 
as  he  had  previously  been  cheated  out  of  his 
lands.  The  result  of  all  this  was  that  wher 
ever  the  English  colonists  encountered  the 
Indian,  they  made  an  enemy  of  him.  This 
97 


Sir  William  Johnson 

was  true  along  the  whole  coast  and  back  to  the 
Allegheny  range  of  mountains,  with  the  single 
exception  of  the  Iroquois  Confederacy,  or  the 
Six  Nations,  living  in  central  and  western 
New  York. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  French  system  of 
colonization  was  simply  a  military  occupa 
tion.  The  French  never  colonized  Canada — 
they  simply  garrisoned  it.  They  did  not 
covet  the  lands  of  the  Indian.  All  their  pol 
icy  was  shaped  to  discourage  permanent  set 
tlement  of  French  colonists  on  any  consider 
able  scale.  The  most  that  the  French  did  in 
the  way  of  permanent  settlement  was  the 
building  of  three  good-sized  towns — Quebec, 
Montreal,  and  Louisburg — together  with  a 
number  of  smaller  towns  and  villages;  but 
these  cities,  towns,  and  villages  were  little 
more  than  rendezvous  or  places  of  arms, 
either  for  defense  pure  and  simple  against 
foreign  aggression,  such  as  Louisburg,  or  as 
depots  or  entrepots  for  their  Indian  trade, 
which  was,  from  beginning  to  end,  the  life- 
blood  of  the  French  colonial  system  in  Can 
ada.  There  was  never  a  time  in  the  history 
of  French  Canada,  from  the  advent  of  Samuel 
Champlain,  at  the  beginning  of  the  seven 
teenth  century,  until  the  final  evacuation  of 
the  country,  after  the  fall  of  Montreal  in  1760, 
98 


Braddock's  Defeat 

when  the  agriculture  of  New  France  or  Can 
ada  produced  anything  like  a  sufficient  sup 
ply  of  foodstuffs  for  the  needs  of  its  white 
inhabitants,  comparatively  few  as  they  were.1 

1  "  In  1753,"  says  Voltaire,  "the  exports  of  Canada 
amounted  to  but  £68,000,  while  its  imports  were  £208,000. 
During  the  same  year  the  exports  of  the  English  provinces 
were  £1,486,000,  their  imports  £983,000.  In  1755  Canadian 
imports  were  5,203,272  livres,  its  exports  only  1,515,730  livres. 
'  Le  Canada  coutait  beaucoup  et  rapportait  tres  peu '  [Canada 
costs  a  great  deal  and  returns  very  little]  "  pursues  Voltaire ; 
and  he  proceeds  to  argue  that  the  policy  of  expending  so 
much  blood  and  treasure  in  maintaining  and  defending  such 
an  unprofitable  dependency  is  unstatesmanlike  and  wrong. 
Voltaire  then  goes  on  to  say:  "  Si  la  dixieme  partie  de  1'argent 
englouti  dans  cette  colonie  avait  ete  employe  a  defricher  nos 
terres  incultes  en  France,  on  aurait  fait  un  gain  considerable. 
.  .  .  Mais  il  f aut  que  le  roi  s'amuse ;  et  cette  colonie  ruineuse, 
c'est  un  de  ses  joujous!"  [If  the  tenth  part  of  the  money 
squandered  on  this  colony  had  been  used  to  improve  our 
waste  lands  in  France  there  would  have  been  a  considerable 
profit.  .  .  .  But  the  king  must  amuse  himself,  and  this  ruin 
ous  colony  is  one  of  his  playthings!]  He  concludes  by  de 
scribing  Canada  as  "un  puisard  de  1'argent  et  une  grande 
eponge  du  sang  de  la  France ! "  [A  sinkhole  for  the  money 
and  a  vast  sponge  for  the  blood  of  France !]  This  may  have 
been  nothing  more  than  Voltaire's  habitual  cynicism,  but 
there  is  no  disputing  his  facts.  In  the  long  run  France  spent 
on  Canada  ten  times  the  money  she  received  in  return,  shed 
the  blood  of  her  sons  in  torrents  by  land  and  sea  to  defend  it, 
and  then  lost  all  ignominiously  in  the  end.  The  deduction  is 
plain :  her  system  was  false.  It  was  opposed  to  the  genius  of 
modern  civilization  and  hence  had  to  fall,  but  we  can  not 
help  admiring  the  desperate  courage  and  the  unflinching  for 
titude  with  which  she  defended  it  to  the  last  gasp. 

99 


Sir  William  Johnson 

The  Indians  soon  found  out  that  the 
French  did  not  want  their  lands,  did  not  wish 
to  cut  down  and  clear  away  their  forests,  did 
not  propose  a  policy  which  would  disturb 
them  or  compel  them  to  move  from  the  habita 
tions  of  their  forefathers  to  new  forests  and 
new  hunting-grounds.  Therefore,  the  jeal 
ousy  and  hatred  with  which  the  Indians  far 
ther  south  regarded  the  English  colonies  was 
never  felt  or  cherished  toward  the  French.  In 
the  social  sense,  the  Frenchman  was  much 
better  adapted  to  deal  with  the  Indian  charac 
ter  than  the  Englishman.  The  Englishman 
as  a  rule  disliked  to  associate  with  Indians. 
He  considered  them  an  inferior  race — dirty, 
slovenly,  and  on  all  accounts  to  be  avoided 
whenever  possible.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
Frenchman  made  himself  at  home  in  the  In 
dian  villages;  married,  or  in  a  less  formal 
way  allied  himself  with  their  women;  raised 
large  families  of  half-breeds;  learned  their 
language,  or  taught  them  his  own,  or  both; 
traded  with  them,  in  the  main  honestly ;  and, 
above  all,  was  never  afraid  of  them.  The 
result  of  all  this  was  that  when  the  two  pow 
ers  arrived  at  the  threshold  of  their  final 
struggle  for  control  in  North  America,  the 
French  could  count  on  the  support  of  the  en 
tire  fighting  strength  of  every  tribe  of  Indians 
100 


Braddock's  Defeat 

east  of  the  Mississippi  and  north  of  the  Ohio, 
excepting  alone  the  Iroquois. 

Now,  to  this  happy  method  of  ingratiating 
themselves  socially  and  politically  with  the 
Indians,  the  French  had  the  additional  advan 
tage  of  the  labors  of  their  priests,  the  Jesuit 
Fathers.  These  devoted  men,  beginning 
away  back  early  in  the  seventeenth  century, 
traversed  the  entire  continent,  visited  almost 
every  tribe  of  Indians,  not  merely  east  of  the 
Mississippi  River,  but  passed  beyond  it  to  the 
Missouri,  and  even  to  the  foot-hills  of  the 
Eocky  Mountains,  introducing  their  peculiar 
rites  into  every  tribe,  and  impressing  the 
sacredness  of  their  personality  upon  the 
abundant  superstition  of  the  Indians.  It  is 
really  an  open  question  whether  the  tact, 
benevolence,  and  good  nature  displayed  by  the 
French  traders  and  soldiers  had  been  as 
potent  an  influence  in  bringing  the  great  mass 
of  western  Indians  under  French  control  as 
the  ministrations  of  their  black-robed  priests. 
Be  that  as  it  may,  they  had  brought  them  at 
the  time  now  under  consideration — say  1753- 
54 — completely  under  French  sway,  and  not 
only  that,  but  they  also  at  that  time  seriously 
disputed  with  the  English  the  control  of  the 
western  tribe  of  the  Iroquois  nation  itself — 
the  Senecas — who  were  by  far  the  largest  and 
101 


Sir  William  Johnson 

most  powerful  clan  of  the  Six  Nations.  How 
ever,  as  this  particular  subject  belongs  to  a 
later  phase,  we  will  not  further  discuss  it 
here. 

Proceeding  now  to  consider  the  numerical 
strength  of  the  Indians  under  the  control  of 
either  power,  it  may  be  said  that  in  1753-54 
the  population  of  the  Six  Nations  was  vari 
ously  estimated.  In  1752,  immediately  after 
the  Marquis  Duquesne  assumed  the  Governor- 
Generalship  of  Canada,  Captain  Joncaire, 
who  had  for  many  years  been  the  principal 
"Indian  Intelligence  Officer  "  for  the  Govern 
ment  of  Canada,  reported  to  the  Governor- 
General  that,  according  to  the  best  of  his  in 
formation,  the  total  number  of  the  Iroquois 
was  very  nearly  25,000— or  22,000  at  least. 
Of  these,  he  calculated  that  the  Senecas  num 
bered  two-fifths,  or  about  9,000  to  10,000;  the 
Cayugas  and  Onondagas  together,  about 
6,000  to  6,500 ;  the  Oneidas  about  3,500 ;  and 
the  Mohawks — including  a  clan  allied  to  them 
known  as  the  "River  Indians  " — about  4,500; 
and  the  Tuscaroras — a  remnant  of  the  once 
powerful  tribe  of  that  name,  formerly  living 
in  the  western  Carolinas,  who  had  been  re 
ceived  and  adopted  into  the  Six  Nations — at 
from  500  to  600  souls.  This  estimate  was 
probably  excessive,  because  in  Sir  William 
102 


Braddock's  Defeat 

Johnson's  papers,  under  date  of  the  year  1753, 
appears  an  estimate  of  the  numbers  of  these 
Indians,  in  which  he  places  the  total  at  about 
19,000,  maintaining  generally  almost  exactly 
the  same  proportions,  tribe  for  tribe,  as  those 
stated  by  Captain  Joncaire.  It  may  be  a 
question  as  to  which  of  the  two  had  the  better 
means  of  information.  Sir  William  Johnson 
derived  his  estimate  from  detailed  statements 
made  to  him  by  chiefs  of  all  the  tribes,  and  of 
the  different  clans  in  each  tribe.  It  was  not 
an  exact  census,  as  that  term  is  understood  in 
modern  practise,  but  it  came  as  near  to  a  cen 
sus  as  was  possible  in  the  circumstances.  At 
the  same  time,  Joncaire  had  unusual  facilities 
for  ascertaining  the  numbers,  or  any  other 
facts  that  he  desired  to  obtain  concerning  the 
Iroquois. 

Joncaire  was  a  characteristic  product  of 
the  times  in  which  he  lived  and  the  circum 
stances  under  which  he  had  his  being. 

Parkman,  historian  par  excellence  of  the 
French  regime  in  North  America,  frequently 
refers  to  Joncaire's  activity  among  the  Indi 
ans.  But  he  seems  to  merge  two  individuals 
in  one.  For  example,  he  makes  a  Joncaire 
busy  among  the  Senecas  around  Niagara  as 
early  as  1704,  at  the  beginning  of  Queen 
Anne's  War;  and  then  prolongs  his  career 
103 


Sir  William  Johnson 

until  the  downfall  of  French  power  in  1759- 
60.  Besides,  he  speaks  of  him  as  "Chabert 
Joncaire,"  and  says  "he  was  the  half-breed 
son  of  a  French  officer,  by  a  Seneca  squaw." 
The  facts  are  as  follows :  The  first  of  the  name 
to  figure  prominently  in  the  New  World  was 
Jean  Frangois  Joncaire.  He  was  the  son  of 
a  subaltern  officer  of  French  colonial  troops 
and  a  full-blood  white  man.  Born  about  1682 
in  France,  he  was  brought  by  his  parents  to 
Canada  when  about  nine  years  of  age — say 
1691.  His  father  was  a  "pioneer  officer  "  or 
military  engineer,  and  was  employed  at  fort- 
building  and  road-making.  In  a  raid  against 
the  settlements  on  the  Richelieu  early  in  King 
William's  War  a  party  of  Senecas  captured 
young  Joncaire  and  took  him  to  one  of  their 
villages  in  western  New  York  (the  present 
Canandaigua).  They  adopted  him  and  he 
lived  with  them  until  the  interchange  of  cap 
tives  a  year  or  so  after  the  Peace  of  Ryswick. 
He  was  then  about  eighteen  years  old.  He 
attracted  the  attention  of  Cadillac,  then  com 
manding  the  French  forces  in  the  Lake  region. 
Through  Cadillac's  influence  he  was  sent  to 
the  Jesuit  Academy  or  Seminary  at  Quebec 
for  a  time,  but  completed  his  education  in  a 
school  of  Recollet  Friars  at  Montreal.  For 
some  reason  he  always  opposed  the  Jesuits. 
104 


Braddock's  Defeat 

Early  in  Queen  Anne's  War  Joncaire,  then 
about  twenty-two,  was  employed  as  agent  or 
emissary  among  the  western  Iroquois — 
mainly  the  Senecas  and  Cayugas.  He  spoke 
their  language  to  perfection,  and  he  also  knew 
half  a  dozen  other  Indian  tongues  or  dialects. 
From  1703  or  1704  until  the  capture  of  Fort 
Niagara  in  1759,  his  activity  among  the  west 
ern  Indians  was  incessant,  and  his  field  of 
operations  ranged  from  the  banks  of  the 
Genesee  to  those  of  the  Ohio,  the  Mississippi, 
the  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  and  the  faraway  shores 
of  Lake  Superior  and  the  Bed  River  of  the 
North.  It  was  a  wonderful  career;  a  career 
that  ended  only  in  his  seventy- eighth  year, 
and  with  the  fate  of  French  rule  in  Canada. 

About  1714  he  took  to  wife  the  half-breed 
daughter  of  a  French  trader  named  Chaubert 
— or  "Chabert,"  as  Parkman  spells  it — by  a 
Seneca  squaw.  She  bore  to  him  a  son,  whom 
he  named  Chaubert  Joncaire.  This  was  the 
one  who — nearly  forty  years  later — com 
manded  the  fort  at  Little  Niagara  in  1759. 
This  first  wife  died  not  long  after  giving  birth 
to  Chaubert  Joncaire.  The  old  captain 
placed  the  boy  in  the  hands  of  the  Eecollet 
Friars  and  gave  him  the  best  education 
French  Canada  could  afford.  In  1736,  when 
fifty-four  years  old  or  thereabouts,  Captain 
8  105 


Sir  William  Johnson 

Joncaire  married  Mile.  Clauzun,  half-breed 
daughter  of  the  Chevalier  de  Clauzun  by  a 
Huron  woman,  said  to  have  been  the  aunt  of 
the  famous  half-breed  Chief  Anasthase,  who 
commanded  the  Indians  at  the  defeat  of  Brad- 
dock. 

Mile.  Clauzun  bore  to  him  a  son,  whom 
he  named  for  her — Jean  Frangois  Clauzun- 
Joncaire. 

We  have  given  so  much  space  to  the  his 
tory  of  Captain  Joncaire  because  he  was  the 
only  Frenchman  whose  influence  among  the 
Iroquois  Sir  William  dreaded,  and  because  his 
importance  as  a  factor  of  French  power  in 
Canada  for  nearly  sixty  of  its  most  thrilling 
years  has  been  neglected  by  historians. 

He  was  a  man  of  medium  stature,  iron  con 
stitution,  vehement  temperament,  and  the 
most  dauntless  courage.  His  dislike  of  the 
Jesuits  got  him  into  trouble  more  than  once, 
and  they  succeeded  on  one  occasion  in  indu 
cing  the  Governor-General  to  try  him  by 
court-martial.  But  he  was  triumphantly  ac 
quitted  and  lived  to  witness  the  confusion  of 
his  enemies.1 

1  Stone  (vol.  i,  pp.  29-32)  speaks  of  Joncaire  as  "a  Jesuit 
Brother."  This  is  an  error  into  which  Stone  was  probably 
led  by  his  knowledge  of  the  fact  that  Joncaire  was  educated 
at  the  Jesuit  Academy  of  Quebec.  He  was  undoubtedly  a 
zealous  Roman  Catholic,  but  never  a  member  of  the  Order 

106 


Braddock's  Defeat 

But  whether  his  estimate  or  that  of  Sir 
William  Johnson  be  correct,  the  difference  is 
not  material  to  the  subject  under  discussion. 

Turning  now  to  the  Indians  under  French 
influence  or  control,  we  find  that  they  included 
all  the  tribes  east  of  the  Mississippi,  north  of 
the  Ohio  and  north  of  the  Great  Lakes,  and 
the  New  York  frontier  to  the  Atlantic  sea 
board.  The  principal  of  these  tribes  were 
the  St.  Regis,  Adirondacks,  St.  Francis,  and 
Abenakis  in  Lower  Canada  and  the  extreme 
northern  part  of  the  present  State  of  New 
York ;  the  powerful  tribes  of  the  Ottawas  and 
the  Hurons,  who  inhabited  the  rich  country 
bounded  by  Lake  Erie  on  the  south,  Lake 
Huron  on  the  west,  and  the  Ottawa  River  on 
the  northeast;  the  Mississago  or  Michigan 
Indians ;  the  Mackinaws,  or  Mackinacs — a 
small  tribe — and  the  Saginaws,  who  inhabited 
the  northern  part  of  what  is  now  Indiana 
and  the  southern  peninsula  of  Michigan;  the 
Winnebagos  and  Menominees  of  Wisconsin, 
together  with  a  branch  of  the  powerful  Chip- 
pewa  tribe,  who  inhabited  the  northern  penin 
sula  of  Michigan  and  Wisconsin  in  the  neigh- 

of  Jesuits.  The  academies  of  that  sect  educated  many  lay 
men  or  secular  pupils.  In  fact,  when  Joncaire  was  a  student 
there  were  no  other  institutions  in  Canada  where  the  higher 
branches  were  taught. 

107 


Sir  William  Johnson 

borhood  of  Fort  Mackinaw  or  Mackinac;  the 
Pottawottomis,  Kickapoos,  Sauks,  and  a 
mixed  tribe  then  known  as  the  Wabash  Indi 
ans,  inhabiting  what  is  now  eastern  Illinois 
and  southern  Indiana. 

The  total  number  of  these  Indians  in  direct 
communication  or  in  close  alliance  with  the 
French  was  estimated  as  high  as  90,000  in 
1752.  This,  which  was  Joncaire's  estimate,  is 
perhaps  an  exaggeration,  but  for  present  pur 
poses  it  is  not  necessary  to  discuss  that  point. 
This  estimate  of  90,000  French  Indians  ap 
pears  in  St.  Martin's  History  of  New 
France,1  an  old  work  compiled  during  the 
French  possession  of  the  country,  and  pub 
lished  in  Paris  a  few  years  afterward,  and  it 
is  given  on  the  authority  of  Joncaire.  Be 
sides  the  Indians  above  enumerated,  there 
were  at  that  time  in  Ohio  the  powerful  tribes 
of  the  Shawnees,  Miamis,  and  the  Wyandots, 
besides  a  considerable  clan  of  the  Delawares, 
who  had  emigrated  from  Pennsylvania  and 
settled  at  and  about  the  forks  of  the  Muskin- 

1  Father  St.  Martin  may  be  termed  the  last  of  the  great 
Jesuits  of  Canada.  Born  in  Quebec,  1699,  and  educated  as  a 
Jesuit  priest,  he  began  mission  work  among  the  Hurons  and 
Ottawas  in  1721  or  1722.  When  Sir  William  Johnson  visited 
Detroit  in  1761,  Father  St.  Martin  was  at  the  Huron  mission 
near  by,  and  the  baronet  paid  him  a  visit,  which  will  be  further 
noticed  in  this  work. 

108 


Braddock's  Defeat 

gum  River  and  in  the  valleys  of  the  Tuscara- 
was  and  Walhonding  Rivers. 

For  some  reason  the  French  had  never 
taken  the  pains  to  put  themselves  en  rapport 
with  the  Ohio  Indians  that  they  did  with  those 
farther  west  and  north.  We  have  never  seen 
any  explanation  of  this  omission.  There  was 
apparently  no  reason  for  it,  because  at  any 
time  prior  to  the  conquest  of  Canada  the 
French  were  the  only  white  people  who  had 
access  to  the  Ohio  Indians  on  any  friendly 
terms  whatsoever,  and  most  of  the  trade  of 
the  Shawnees,  Wyandots,  and  Miamis  was 
carried  on  with  the  French,  from  whom  they 
obtained  guns,  ammunition,  cutlery,  cooking 
utensils,  blankets,  etc.,  almost  exclusively,  at 
the  French  trading-posts  of  Presque  Isle, 
Cuyahoga,  Maumee,  and  Detroit.  Prior  to 
1748  no  English  or  Colonial  trader  had 
crossed  the  Allegheny  Mountains.  In  fact, 
prior  to  that  time  no  Englishman  or  colonist 
had  crossed  the  range  except  a  few  daring 
hunters  like  Gist,  Grady,  and  Post — and  these 
had  to  carry  their  lives  in  their  hands. 

But,  apart  from  numerical  considerations, 
apart  from  the  genius  of  the  French  in  ingra 
tiating  themselves  into  the  good  graces  of  the 
Indians,  apart  from  the  tremendous  leverage 
of  the  clerical  power  exercised  by  the  Jesuit 
109 


Sir  William  Johnson 

Fathers,  and  apart  from  the  ineptness  of  the 
English  colonists  in  dealing  with  the  Indians, 
there  was  still  another  factor  of  organic  dif 
ference  between  the  English  and  French  sys 
tems  on  this  continent,  which  was,  perhaps, 
more  important  than  all  the  others — at  least 
it  was  a  factor  which  gave  a  quick  mobility 
and  a  constant  vitality  to  the  French  power 
that  were  totally  wanting  in  the  English  Colo 
nial  system.  The  thirteen  English  colonies, 
at  the  beginning  of  the  old  French  war,  were 
all  autonomous,  semi-independent,  self-gov 
erning  commonwealths.  Each  had  its  gov 
ernor,  its  council  or  assembly  elected  by  the 
people,  and  everything  that  it  did  or  that  was 
done  in  its  name  must  be  the  subject  of  dis 
cussion  and  legislation.  Then,  among  the 
several  colonies  also  was  a  good  deal  of  bick 
ering,  of  jealousy,  and  in  some  cases  vexa 
tious  disputes  about  boundaries  and  jurisdic 
tions  leading  up  to  the  very  threshold  of  inter 
necine  war.  For  these  reasons  the  English 
colonies  were  indolent  and  procrastinating  in 
the  conception  of  any  operations  that  required 
united  action,  and  even  when  the  difficulties 
of  conception  and  design  had  been  overcome, 
they  were,  if  possible,  slower  in  execution. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  French  regime  in 
Canada  was  a  solid,  compact  body.     There 
110 


Braddock's  Defeat 

was  no  representative  government  nor  the 
semblance  of  one.  The  Governor-General  at 
Quebec  was  within  his  domain  a  monarch  as 
absolute  as  the  Bourbon  king  at  Versailles. 
His  word  was  law  and  his  orders  gospel. 
Every  able-bodied  Frenchman  in  Canada  was 
at  all  times  a  soldier  in  esse  or  in  posse.  He 
was  constantly  enrolled  in  what  was  termed 
the  Canadian  militia,1  and  his  term  of  liability 

1  Garneau,  in  his  Histoire  du  Canada,  quotes  Montcalm 
as  saying:  "The  Canadian  militia  are  better  soldiers  than 
the  American  provincials,  man  for  man.  But  they  are  too 
few ;  and  when  they  are  once  in  the  field  there  is  no  reserve 
from  which  to  recruit  their  ranks."  This  remark  is  worth 
consideration.  The  French  Canadian  is  always  brave.  He  is 
hardy  and  can  live  on  a  diet  that  would  starve  an  American. 
He  is  inured  to  all  possible  rigors  of  climate.  The  military 
system  that  prevailed  under  French  rule  in  Canada  made  him 
at  least  a  half -regular  soldier  all  the  time.  In  war  every  com 
pany  commander  of  Canadian  militia  was  a  French  regular 
officer.  The  "habitans"  could  hold  only  subaltern  rank. 
Every  company  had  a  French  regular  drill-sergeant.  Their 
discipline  and  regulations  in  every  respect  were  those  of  the 
regular  troops.  They  never  mutinied  or  deserted  and  seldom 
complained;  if  they  did  their  shrift  was  short.  They  were 
the  soldiers  of  a  despotic  government  and  they  knew  it. 

On  the  other  hand  the  American  Provincial  troops  were 
volunteers,  freemen  ;  and  they  carried  a  good  deal  of  their 
democracy  into  the  field  with  them.  While  they  marched  and 
fought  well  and  endured  marvelous  fatigues  and  privations 
at  times,  they  were  always  prompt  to  find  fault  if  any  was  to 
be  found.  It  was  impossible  to  bring  them  up — or  down — to 
the  regular  standard  of  discipline.  More  than  one  British 
officer  who  ordered  a  provincial  soldier  to  be  flogged  fell  with 

111 


Sir  William  Johnson 

to  service  was  from  the  age  of  sixteen  years 
anywhere  to  decrepitude.  Moreover,  the 
male  sex  largely  predominated  in  the  white 
population  of  Canada,  the  proportion  being, 
in  the  average  for  the  160  years  between  the 
advent  of  Samuel  Champlain  and  the  down 
fall  of  French  power  in  1760,  as  two  to  one. 

In  a  word,  French  Canada  may  be  said  to 
have  been  under  perpetual  martial  law.  All 
the  conceptions  and  designs  were  secretly 
planned  in  the  palace  of  the  Governor-Gen 
eral  at  Quebec.  All  the  orders  were  issued 
without  publicity,  and  such  was  the  prevailing 
discipline  in  all  grades  of  society  and  through 
out  the  local  military  force,  that  the  execution 
of  these  plans  and  designs  was  always  as 
swift  as  their  consideration  had  been  secret. 
It  does  not  seem  that  any  contrast  of  systems 
could  be  more  perfectly  antipodal  than  this, 
or  that  any  comparison  of  methods  could 
exhibit  wider  extremes. 

Thus  far  we  have  dealt  only  with  the  white 
people  and  the  Indians  proper,  but  in  Canada 
there  was  another  element  which  did  not  exist 

a  bullet  in  his  back  at  the  next  battle  or  skirmish.  From  the 
purely  disciplinary  point  of  view  there  is  every  reason  to  agree 
with  the  sentiment  that  Garneau  quotes  from  Montcalm.  But 
judging  by  results,  wherever  the  Canadian  militia  and  the 
American  provincials  came  together,  neither  one  supported 
by  regulars,  history  does  not  verify  Montcalm's  theory. 

112 


Braddock's  Defeat 

to  any  extent  in  the  English  colonies.  That 
was  the  element  of  the  half-breeds.  At  the 
time  when  the  Marquis  Duquesne  became 
Governor-General,  the  half-breed  or  mixed- 
race  population  of  French  Canada  was  nearly 
as  numerous  as  the  white  race  itself.  These 
half-breeds,  the  offspring  of  French  traders 
and  soldiers  by  Indian  women,  were  scattered 
through  every  tribe.  They  were  to  be  found 
in  every  Indian  village.  They  were  the  lead 
ing  race  in  hunting  and  trapping.  They  were 
the  common  carriers  of  supplies  and  of  arti 
cles  of  trade  and  barter  all  over  the  French 
Northwest.  They  were  a  brave,  active,  inde 
fatigable,  and  intelligent  race.  In  peace,  they 
carried  the  name  and  the  influence  of  France 
to  the  remotest  Indian  tribes;  in  war,  they 
were,  under  the  peculiar  conditions  that  pre 
vailed,  more  formidable  in  combat  than  the 
French  regulars  themselves,  and  more  effec 
tive  than  the  full-blood  Indians,  combining,  as 
they  did,  the  disciplinary  aptitude  of  the  one 
with  the  subtle  woodcraft  of  the  other.  As 
a  rule,  in  the  campaigns  they  were  not 
grouped  in  military  bodies  of  their  own  or  by 
themselves,  but  were  distributed  among  the 
Indians,  whom  they  instructed  by  their  supe 
rior  knowledge  and  encouraged  by  their  un 
failing  example.  It  is  hardly  too  much  to  say 
113 


Sir  William  Johnson 

that  at  the  period  under  discussion  the  race 
of  French  Canadian  half-breeds  formed  the 
most  important  factor  of  the  military  strength 
of  France  in  North  America.  Under  such 
conditions,  France  and  England,  with  their 
respective  American  colonies,  began  about  the 
end  of  1754  their  final  struggle  for  absolute 
supremacy  on  this  continent. 

The  hope  of  the  American  colonists  that 
the  treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  would  inaugu 
rate  another  long  peace,  like  that  which  inter 
vened  between  the  end  of  Queen  Anne's  War 
in  1714  and  the  beginning  of  King  George's 
in  1743,  had  proved  illusory.  The  ink  was 
hardly  dry  on  the  treaty  of  1748  when  the 
French  began  measures  for  carrying  out  a 
plan  long  cherished.  This  plan  contemplated 
nothing  less  than  the  seizure  of  all  the  country 
west  of  the  Alleghenies,  the  "hinterland,"  as 
modern  diplomatists  say,  of  the  English  colo 
nies.  The  English  had  always  nominally 
claimed  this  back  country  south  of  the  Great 
Lakes  and  parallel  with  the  Atlantic  front  of 
their  colonies,  to  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi. 
But  they  had  never  made  the  slightest  effort 
to  settle  it,  to  open  trade  within  its  borders,  or 
even  to  explore  it. 

The  French,  on  the  contrary,  had  explored 
it  nearly  a  hundred  years  before  the  period  of 
114 


Braddock's  Defeat 

which  we  now  write  (1754).  They  had  estab 
lished  numerous  trading-posts  and  a  few 
small  villages,  such  as  Old  Vincennes  within 
the  present  State  of  Indiana,  Kaskaskia  in 
Illinois,  and  St.  Charles  and  St.  Genevieve  in 
Missouri.  They  had  established  several 
routes  through  this  region  between  Canada 
and  their  settlements  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mis 
sissippi,  now  Louisiana.  One  of  these  routes 
was  from  the  head  of  Lake  Michigan  to  the 
Illinois  River,  and  thence  down  that  stream 
and  the  Mississippi  to  New  Orleans.  An 
other  was  up  the  Maumee  to  its  head  waters, 
thence  by  portage  to  the  head  waters  of  the 
Wabash,  and  so  on  down.  Another  was  from 
their  trading-post  at  Cuyahoga  to  the  head 
waters  of  the  Miami,  thence  down  that  stream 
to  the  Ohio.  In  short,  their  traders,  priests, 
and  voyageurs  had,  for  more  than  half  a  cen 
tury,  permeated  the  region,  forming  alliances 
with  the  Indian  tribes,  converting  many  of 
them  to  the  Catholic  faith,  marrying  their 
women,  supplying  them  with  firearms  and 
ammunition,  and  practising,  in  short,  all  the 
arts  of  French  colonization — or  rather,  of 
French  occupation. 

In  any  struggle  that  might  occur  between 
France  and  England  for  the  actual  possession 
and  control  of  this  vast  territory,  it  is  there- 
115 


Sir  William  Johnson 

fore  apparent  that  the  French  must  have  a 
very  great  initial  advantage.  And  this  ad 
vantage  was  enhanced  by  the  fact  that  the 
French,  from  their  places  of  arms  in  Canada, 
could  communicate  with  all  parts  of  the  region 
by  water,  or  through  a  level  and  easily  trav 
ersed  country.  The  English,  on  the  other 
hand,  could  reach  it  only  by  long  marches 
over  difficult  mountains,  where  they  would 
have  to  cut  their  roads  as  they  advanced,  and 
where  their  columns  and  their  supply-trains 
would  be  beset  at  every  step  by  the  lurking 
savage  allies  of  the  French.  In  the  first  part 
of  his  reign  Louis  XV  neglected  the  French 
colonies  in  America.  His  great-grandfather, 
Louis  XIV,  throughout  his  long  reign,  made 
them  the  objects  of  his  especial  solicitude. 
But  the  neglect  and,  to  some  extent,  the  op 
pressive  regulations  of  trade  and  immigra 
tion  in  the  first  thirty  years  of  the  reign  of 
Louis  XV  had  seriously  weakened  the  French 
power  in  Canada.  Moreover,  Louis  XV  had 
made  Canada  a  sort  of  penal  colony ;  not,  in 
deed,  for  common  criminals,  but  a  place  of 
exile  for  officers  who  fought  duels  or  failed  to 
pay  their  debts,  for  broken-down  noblemen; 
in  short,  for  all  classes  of  genteel  offenders 
not  quite  bad  enough  for  the  Bastile. 

Among  other  things,  this  had  caused  an 
116 


Braddock's  Defeat 

actual  decrease  of  the  white  population. 
When  Louis  XIV  died,  in  1715,  there  were  at 
least  30,000  white  men  in  Canada;  whereas, 
when  the  Marquis  Duquesne  assumed  the 
Governor-Generalship,  he  reported  only  22,- 
000.  Prior  to  Duquesne  all  the  Governors- 
General  during  the  reign  of  Louis  XV  had 
been  mere  creatures  of  the  court,  possessing 
neither  aptitude  nor  ambition  for  the  per 
formance  of  their  duties,  or  the  extension  of 
French  power  and  influence.  The  appoint 
ment  of  Duquesne  itself  was  a  change  of  pol 
icy,  from  the  halting,  the  indecisive,  and  the 
weak  to  the  aggressive,  the  determined,  and 
the  strong.  This  change  of  policy  was  due 
mainly,  if  not  wholly,  to  the  influence  of  Ma 
dame  de  Pompadour,  who,  since  her  alliance 
with  Louis,  in  1745,  had  never  ceased  her 
efforts  to  arouse  his  interest  in  the  vast  pos 
sessions  of  France  in  the  New  World,  and  at 
last  her  eloquence  and  tact  had  brought  the 
luxurious  and  careless  monarch  to  something 
like  a  sense  of  his  obligations. 

Simultaneously  with  the  selection  of  the 
Marquis  Duquesne  to  succeed  M.  de  la  Galis- 
soniere  as  Governor-General,  Louis  XV 
began  quietly  to  prepare  for  another  war. 
All  ships  of  war  on  the  stocks  at  Toulon, 
Brest,  TOrient,  Rochefort,  and  La  Eochelle 
117 


Sir  William  Johnson 

were  ordered  to  be  pushed  to  completion  at 
the  earliest  date.  Vessels  in  need  of  repair 
were  ordered  to  be  thoroughly  overhauled, 
and  all  defects  made  good.  Twelve  thousand 
additional  seamen  and  marines  were  ordered 
to  be  recruited  for  the  fleet.  All  the  military 
and  naval  arsenals  of  the  country  were  filled 
with  munitions.  The  regular  regiments  were 
ordered  to  be  recruited  up  to  the  maximum 
establishment.  Most  significant  of  all,  ten 
regiments  of  regulars,  comprising  some  of  the 
oldest  and  most  famous  corps  d?  elite  in  the 
French  army,  were  ordered  to  be  in  readiness 
for  service  beyond  the  seas.  Of  these,  seven 
were  intended  for  Canada  and  three  for  the 
East  Indies. 

Those  destined  for  Canada  were  the  regi 
ments  of  Artois,  of  Beam,  of  Languedoc,  of 
Guienne,  of  Burgundy,  of  Picardy,  and  the 
famous  Regiment  de  la  Eeine.  Under  the 
system  of  organization  prevailing  in  the 
French  army  at  that  time,  the  full  war 
strength  of  an  infantry  regiment  of  the 
line  was  twelve  companies  of  103  of  all 
ranks  each,  with  eight  field  and  staff  offi 
cers,  or  a  total  of  1,244  to  the  regiment.  But 
when  sent  on  foreign  service  two  companies 
were  left  at  home  to  form  a  depot  for  re 
cruiting  and  training  purposes,  so  that  the 
118 


Braddock's  Defeat 

actual  strength  in  the  field  would  be  a  maxi 
mum  of  1,038.  In  addition  to  these  infantry 
regiments,  Louis  ordered  four  companies 
(batteries)  of  light  artillery  and  a  siege- 
train  to  be  in  readiness  for  Canadian  service. 
The  batteries  were  of  six  guns  each  (light 
8-pounders  or  howitzers)  and  140  men. 

The  siege-train  had  twelve  heavy  guns  (12- 
and  18-pounders)  and  280  heavy  artillerists. 
At  first  Walsh's  regiment  of  the  Irish  Brigade 
— the  selfsame  men  who,  seven  years  before, 
had  stemmed  the  English  tide  and  turned  the 
fortunes  of  the  day  at  Fontenoy — was  in 
cluded  in  the  Canadian  contingent.  But  for 
some  reason,  they  were  sent  to  reenforce  La 
Bourdonnais  and  Lally  at  Pondicherry  in  the 
East  Indies.  However,  the  total  strength  of 
the  Canadian  reenforcement  was  about  7,500, 
and  it  was  made  up  of  the  best  troops  in  the 
French  regular  army. 

The  sending  of  French  regular  regiments 
of  territorial  titles  to  Canada  or  anywhere 
beyond  seas  was  itself  a  remarkable  innova 
tion.  Hitherto  the  French  regulars  employed 
in  Canada  had  been  regiments  specially  re 
cruited  for  colonial  service.  They  were,  in 
fact,  organized  in  a  manner  quite  similar  to 
the  "  Foreign  Legion  "  of  our  times.  They 
were,  of  course,  regular  troops  in  every  sense ; 
119 


Sir  William  Johnson 

borne  on  the  army  list  under  the  head  of 
"Corps  de  la  Marine  et  des  Colonies,"  and 
their  officers  held  equivalent  and  interchange 
able  rank  with  the  line  regiments  of  territo 
rial  title. 

These  preparations  began  in  1752.  Du- 
quesne  was  appointed  to  succeed  la  Gallisson- 
iere  in  1751,  and  went  immediately  to  Can 
ada.1  But  on  arriving  there,  he  requested  the 
latter  to  hold  the  office  a  few  months  in  order 
that  he  (Duquesne)  might  have  opportunity 
to  make  a  personal  survey  of  the  frontiers  and 
of  the  general  situation  incognito.  Early  in 
1752  Duquesne,  accompanied  only  by  Captain 
Joncaire,  Captain  Beaujeu  (who  subsequently 
commanded  the  French  and  Indians  at  the  de 
feat  of  Braddock),  together  with  half  a  dozen 
half-breed  trailers  and  hunters,  journeyed 
from  Presque  Isle  (now  Erie,  Pa.)  to  the 
junction  of  the  Allegheny  and  Monongahela 

1  Madame  d'Hausset  says  that  Duquesne's  instructions 
were  in  Madame  de  Pompadour's  handwriting,  and  all  that 
the  king  had  to  do  with  them  was  to  sign  his  name.  She  also 
says  that  when  Duquesne  was  leaving  Versailles,  de  Pompa 
dour  sent  for  him  and  gave  him  a  magnificent  seal  ring,  the 
seal  of  which  was  cut  in  an  immense  ruby.  "Now,"  she  said, 
"Monsieur  le  Marquis,  I  want  you  to  put  that  seal  on  arti 
cles  of  capitulation  for  Boston,  New  York,  and  Philadelphia. 
France  must  be  supreme  in  the  New  World  and  you  must 
make  her  so."  It  would  appear  that  the  gracious  madame 
gave  the  gallant  marquis  a  large  contract. 

120 


Braddock's  Defeat 

Elvers,  and  indicated  the  spot  where  the  fort 
afterward  named  for  him  should  be  built. 

There  is  nothing  in  history  to  show  that 
the  English  Government  or  any  of  the  colonial 
governments  had  adequate  knowledge  of  these 
tremendous  preparations ;  and  their  first  in 
timation  of  the  French  scheme  was  in  the 
fall  of  1753,  when  Captain  Joncaire  estab 
lished  a  fort  at  Venango,  the  confluence  of 
French  Creek  with  the  Allegheny  River.  This 
was  the  third  in  a  chain  of  posts  hugging  the 
western  slope  of  the  Allegheny  Mountains, 
and  designed  by  Duquesne  to  cut  the  English 
off  from  the  Ohio  Valley.  The  first  of  the 
posts  was  Presque  Isle,  the  second  Fort  Le 
Boeuf,  thirteen  miles  south  of  the  former,  and 
at  the  head  of  canoe  navigation  on  French 
Creek ;  Venango,  the  third ;  and  they  were  cal 
culated  to  serve  as  intermediate  stations  be 
tween  Lake  Erie  and  the  grand  fortress  to  be 
built  at  the  head  of  the  Ohio. 

In  our  time  it  is  difficult  to  believe  that 
such  secrecy  with  regard  to  such  portentous 
movements  could  be  maintained.  Nowadays 
every  nation  knows  all  about  every  other 
nation's  army,  its  navy,  and  its  movements 
with  either  or  both.  But  in  those  days,  under 
the  Bourbon  rule  in  France,  absolute  secrecy 
was  possible.  No  outsider  could  get  within 
9  121 


Sir  William  Johnson 

gunshot  of  a  French  dockyard  or  arsenal. 
Men  employed  in  them  were  under  oath  not  to 
divulge  anything.  If  they  did  divulge,  it  was 
rated  high  treason,  and  punishable  by  death. 
Thus  it  happened  that  the  French  were  able 
to  penetrate  far  into  territory  claimed  by  the 
British,  establish  lines  of  communication,  and 
build  substantial  forts  without  the  English 
knowing  anything  about  it,  and  all  this  in  a 
time  of  profound  peace. 

At  last  the  British  Government  awoke  to 
the  fact  that  things  were  going  wrong  in  the 
American  colonies.  Tidings  of  the  disasters 
on  the  Virgina  frontier — of  Trent's  surrender 
of  the  fort  at  the  head  of  the  Ohio,  and  of 
Washington's  capitulation  at  Fort  Necessity 
— reached  England  in  August,  1754.  These 
tidings  were  so  bad  that  they  infused  a  spasm 
of  energy  into  even  the  ridiculous  ministry  of 
the  absurd  Duke  of  Newcastle.  But,  after  all, 
it  was  not  the  Duke  of  Newcastle  who  really 
acted.  At  that  time  the  Captain-General  and 
commander-in-chief  of  the  British  army  was 
William  Augustus,  Duke  of  Cumberland.  He 
had  the  additional  advantage  of  being  the 
king's  favorite  son.  And  he  was  unquestion 
ably  the  best  soldier — if  not  the  only  one — 
that  the  House  of  Hanover  has  produced. 
Cumberland  did  not  wait  upon  the  moods  and 
122 


Braddock's  Defeat 

tenses  of  the  fat-witted  Prime  Minister.  As 
Captain-General,  he  had  control  of  military 
affairs  in  the  colonies  as  well  as  in  England  in 
time  of  war — and  this  was  certainly  such  a 
time. 

Therefore,  without  consulting  the  ministry 
or  any  one  else — unless,  perhaps,  his  father, 
the  king — Cumberland  ordered  the  Forty- 
fourth  Regiment  of  Foot,  Colonel  Sir  Peter 
Halket,  and  the  Forty-eighth  Regiment,  Col 
onel  Thomas  Dunbar,  to  be  put  in  instant 
readiness  for  service  in  the  American  colonies. 
He  also  sent  letters  of  service  in  the  king's 
name  to  General  Sir  William  Pepperell  and 
Colonel  William  Shirley — then  Governor  of 
Massachusetts  —  authorizing  and  directing 
them  to  raise  two  regiments  of  infantry  in  the 
colonies,  to  be  known  as  Royal  Provincial  or 
Royal  American  regiments,  to  be  enrolled  in 
the  British  regular  army  list,  and  to  be  paid 
and  provided  for  by  the  king  the  same  as  any 
other  British  regulars.  These  orders  bore 
date  of  September  19,  1754 — less  than  four 
weeks  after  the  news  of  the  disastrous  result 
of  Washington's  campaign  reached  London. 

Other  provisions  were  made  by  the  Duke 
of  Cumberland  for  the  employment  of  Pro 
vincial  troops,  and  of  such  Indians  as  might 
adhere  to  the  English  cause.  On  the  whole, 
123 


Sir  William  Johnson 

Cumberland  calculated  that  his  scheme  would 
serve  to  put  in  the  field  in  the  American  colo 
nies  a  force  of  at  least  14,000  men  by  the  open 
ing  of  spring  in  1755,  and  of  this  force  he  in 
tended — including  the  small  garrisons  already 
in  the  colonies — that  about  4,000  should  be 
British  regulars.  It  should  be  remarked  at 
this  point  that  the  numerical  strength  of  the 
British  regular  army  in  1754  was  at  its  lowest 
ebb.  After  the  treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle — 
which  the  French  always  called  a  truce — the 
silly  Duke  of  Newcastle  imagined  that  the 
millennium  had  come,  and,  if  he  could  have 
had  his  way,  would  probably  have  disbanded 
the  British  army  altogether. 

Be  this  as  it  may,  a  man  of  different  mold 
was  directing  this  particular  affair.  With 
out  going  into  details,  the  Duke  of  Cum 
berland  selected  Major-General  Sir  Edward 
Braddock  to  command  the  British  troops  des 
tined  for  the  American  colonies,  and  at  the 
same  time  made  him  commander-in-chief  of 
all  the  British  forces  in  North  America — regu 
lar,  Provincial,  and  Indian.  After  arranging 
for  transportation  of  his  troops,  ordnance, 
and  supplies,  Braddock  himself,  with  his  staff, 
sailed  from  the  Downs  in  the  famous  old  Cen 
turion — which  had  been  Anson's  flagship  in 
that  wonderful  cruise  round  the  world  a  dec- 
124 


Braddock's  Defeat 

ade  before — on  the  21st  of  December,  1754, 
and  reached  Hampton  Roads  after  a  most 
tempestuous  passage,  the  20th  of  February, 
1755.  The  convoy  of  transports,  with  the 
troops,  ordnance  stores,  and  general  supplies, 
sailed  from  Cork  the  14th  of  January,  1755, 
were  dispersed  at  sea,  and,  as  they  arrived 
from  day  to  day  in  the  Chesapeake,  were 
worked  up  the  Potomac  to  Alexandria,  where 
the  last  of  them,  the  Severn,  with  four  com 
panies  of  the  Forty-eighth — Dunbar's  regi 
ment — on  board,  arrived  the  15th  of  March. 

Detailed  description  of  Braddock's  cam 
paign  would  be  foreign  to  the  scope  of  this  lit 
tle  book.  But  on  his  arrival  in  this  country 
he  did  some  things  in  his  capacity  as  com- 
mander-in-chief  which  do  more  credit  to  his 
memory  than  does  the  battle  in  which  he  fell. 
Chief  among  these  things  was  the  appoint 
ment  of  Sir  William  Johnson,  in  the  name  and 
by  authority  of  the  king,  to  be  General  Super 
intendent  of  Indian  Affairs  for  the  whole  of 
British  North  America.  This  appointment 
was  made  in  March,  1755,  less  than  a  month 
after  General  Braddock's  arrival  in  Hampton 
Roads. 

The  story  of  Braddock's  fatal  expedition 
is  known  to  most  well-read  American  school 
boys.  They  know  it,  not  because  it  was  Brad- 
125 


Sir  William  Johnson 

dock's  expedition  or  Braddock's  defeat,  but 
because  the  name  and  fame  of  George  Wash 
ington  are  intimately  associated  with  it.  No 
attempt  to  describe  it  will  be  made  here. 
Suffice  to  say  that  on  the  10th  of  June,  1755, 
Braddock's  army  left  Fort  Cumberland  2,150 
strong,  as  stated  in  the  journal  of  Captain 
Orme,  of  the  general's  staff.  This  force  con 
sisted  of  1,400  British  regulars,  about  500 
Virginia  Provincials,  and  a  miscellaneous 
force  of  250  more,  composed  of  three  inde 
pendent  companies,  in  the  king's  pay,  each 
about  60  strong;  a  small  troop  of  Provincial 
Light  Horse  from  Virginia — about  30  men — 
10  guides,  and  30  sailors  from  the  Centurion, 
sent  along  to  help  handle  the  artillery  of  the 
expedition.  It  was  a  tedious  march,  during 
which  not  more  than  ten  miles  a  day  was 
traversed,  by  reason  of  the  delay  in  making  a 
road  practicable  for  the  wagon-train  and  the 
heavier  arms. 

Braddock,  fretted  by  these  delays,  finally, 
by  the  advice  of  Sir  Peter  Halket,  Captain 
Orme,  and  his  special  Provincial  aide-de 
camp,  Major  George  Washington,  deter 
mined  to  leave  the  heavy  baggage  and  guns 
behind  with  a  guard  of  700  men  under 
Colonel  Dunbar,  and  to  push  forward,  by 
forced  marches,  with  a  column  in  light  march- 
126 


Braddock's  Defeat 

ing  order,  composed  of  1,000  British  regulars 
and  400  Virginia  Provincials.  This  column 
started  the  19th  of  June,  taking  with  it  eight 
of  the  lightest  guns  with  their  tumbrils ;  the 
provisions — twenty  days'  rations — being  car 
ried  on  packhorses.  The  rest,  so  far  as  this 
little  volume  has  space  to  deal  with  the  sub 
ject,  is  soon  told.  On  the  9th  of  July,  Brad- 
dock,  with  his  column  of  1,400,  crossed  the 
Monongahela  a  few  miles  above  its  conflu 
ence  with  the  Allegheny  forming  the  Ohio 
River. 

Here  the  British  column  fell  into  an  am 
buscade  of  French  and  Indians  under  Captain 
Beaujeu  of  the  French  regular  army,  and  in 
less  than  an  hour  was  hopelessly  defeated, 
utterly  routed,  and  almost  annihilated.  Eng 
lish  historians  have  described  it  as  the  most 
complete  disaster  that  ever  befell  a  British 
force.  General  Braddock  and  all  the  field- 
officers  present  were  either  killed  or  wounded. 
The  total  loss  out  of  1,460  officers  and  men 
was  456  killed  outright  or  mortally  wounded, 
and  521  wounded,  many  of  whom  were  so 
disabled  that  they  fell  that  night  or  the  next 
day  under  the  tomahawks  of  the  pursuing 
savages.  Of  the  total  force  of  1,460,  only 
483  escaped  fit  for  duty — and  many  of  these 
received  slight  wounds.  The  Virginia  Pro- 
127 


Sir  William  Johnson 

vincials  did  their  best  to  cover  the  retreat,  but 
they,  too,  were  overwhelmed. 

When  the  wreck  of  Braddock's  army 
reached  the  reserve  under  Colonel  Dunbar, 
the  latter  partook  of  their  panic,  and  a  dis 
graceful  flight  back  to  Fort  Cumberland  en 
sued,  baggage,  supplies,  cannon,  and  every 
thing  else  that  could  impede  flight  being 
abandoned.  It  was  the  greatest  defeat  ever 
suffered  by  the  whites  in  frontier  warfare — 
greater  even  than  St.  Clair's — and  the  most 
wonderful  victory  ever  won  by  the  Indians. 
We  have  noted  that  Braddock's  force  was 
1,460  of  all  ranks.  The  force  of  French  and 
Indians  that  destroyed  it  has  been  variously 
estimated.  Doubtless  the  most  accurate 
statement  is  that  of  Captain  Joncaire,  who 
organized  the  Indian  part  of  the  force,  and 
who  would  have  commanded  in  the  battle  but 
for  an  accident  that  happened  to  him  early  in 
the  morning  of  the  day  on  which  it  occurred. 

Just  after  daylight  he  mounted  his  pony 
and  was  riding  at  top  speed  through  a  new 
clearing  full  of  logs  and  stumps,  when  the 
pony  stumbled,  throwing  the  captain  over  his 
head.  The  result  was  a  dislocated  left  shoul 
der  and  severe  contusions  in  the  head.  He 
was  carried  to  the  fort  unconscious,  and  re 
mained  in  that  condition  several  hours — being, 
128 


Braddock's  Defeat 

in  fact,  roused  from  his  stupor  by  the  trium 
phant  yells  of  his  Indians  returning  from 
their  field  of  victory.  He  says  in  his  journal 
that  the  force  actually  in  contact  with  Brad- 
dock's  army  was  composed  of  600  Indians,  20 
cadets  (half-breed  boys  under  training  for 
military  service),  and  16  white  Frenchmen, 
of  whom  7  were  regular  officers — a  total  of 
636. 

The  600  Indians,  he  says,  represented  as 
many  as  ten  tribes,  it  having  been  his  policy 
in  organizing  the  force  to  take  a  small  num 
ber  of  picked  warriors  from  each  tribe,  partly 
with  a  view  to  stimulate  rivalry,  and  partly  to 
identify  as  many  different  tribes  as  possible 
with  the  French  cause.  He  gives  a  list  em 
bodying  an  exact  statement  of  the  number 
present  from  each  tribe,  and  this  list  includes 
80  Senecas  and  18  Cayugas ;  so  that  one-sixth 
of  the  Indians  who  defeated  Braddock  be 
longed  to  the  traditional  "friends  of  the  Eng 
lish,"  the  Iroquois!  The  principal  chief  and 
commander  of  all  the  Indians  was  the  cele 
brated  Huron  half-breed  Anasthose,  who  was 
said  to  be  a  grandson  of  Count  de  Fronte- 
nac.  The  second-in-command  was  Pontiac, 
then  a  young  war-chief  of  the  Ottawas.  The 
total  loss  of  the  French  and  Indians  in 
Braddock's  defeat  was  3  white  men  (includ- 
129 


Sir  William  Johnson 

ing  Captain  Beaujeu)  killed  and  2  wounded; 
2  cadets  wounded;  7  Indians  killed  and  17 
wounded — a  total  of  10  killed  and  21  wounded. 

Winthrop  Sargent,  in  his  History  of  Brad- 
dock's  Expedition,  says  that  the  force  under 
Captain  Beaujeu  consisted  of  "600  Indians, 
146  Canadian  militia,  72  French  regulars,  and 
20  cadets — total,  838."  But  Joncaire  says 
that  all  but  16  of  the  French  regulars  and 
all  the  Canadian  militia  were  retained  at  the 
fort  by  Captain  Contrecoeur — "who,"  he 
says,  rather  sardonically,  "did  not  imagine 
that  success  was  possible,  and  was  among  the 
last  to  realize  the  magnitude  and  glory  of  the 
victory.  He  had  made  all  arrangements  for 
a  capitulation  with  the  honors  of  war !  " 

Perhaps  Joncaire  was  prejudiced  against 
Contrecoeur.  The  latter  was  only  a  captain 
of  infantry  of  the  line,  and  the  72  French 
regulars  at  Fort  Duquesne  were  simply  his 
own  company  of  the  regiment  of  Languedoc. 
Joncaire  had  long  held  the  commission,  pay, 
and  allowances  of  a  "First  Captain  of  Marine 
Infantry  "  in  the  regular  army  of  France,  and 
was  borne  on  the  "extra  "  or  "special-service 
list "  of  his  regiment — that  of  Toulon.  A 
"First  Captain  of  Marine  Infantry  "  was,  by 
title,  only  a  captain,  but  the  real  rank  was 
equivalent  to  that  of  major  in  the  British 
130 


Braddock's  Defeat 

service.  He  therefore  ranked  both  Contre- 
coeur  and  St.  Pierre,  who  were  only  captains 
of  infantry  of  the  line.  But,  as  he  had  never 
actually  served  with  his  regiment,  and  as  his 
rank  was  honorary  rather  than  substantive, 
they  were  always  disputing  his  precedence 
over  them.  However,  at  the  time  of  Brad- 
dock's  defeat,  Joncaire  was  recognized  at 
"  Government  House  "  in  Quebec  as  the  com 
mander  of  the  French  and  Indian  forces  in 
the  Ohio  Valley.  He  was  over  seventy  years 
old  at  the  time  of  the  accident  above  related, 
and  he  never  again  had  much  use  of  his  left 
arm.  He  never  attempted  field  service  after 
the  Braddock  campaign.1 

1  During  the  rest  of  the  war  Captain  Joncaire  made  his 
headquarters  most  of  the  time  at  Fort  Niagara,  where  he  was 
captured  in  1759  when  that  stronghold  surrendered  to  Sir 
William  Johnson's  army.  In  his  "  list  of  prisoners"  Sir  Will 
iam  describes  him  as  "captain  of  marines,"  and  in  the  same 
list  appears  the  name  of  his  half-breed  son,  "Chabeare" 
(Chaubert)  Joncaire,  who  commanded  a  company  of  half-breed 
rangers.  He  was  sent  to  England  with  the  other  captured 
officers,  and  upon  his  release  in  1762  returned  to  Canada.  He 
settled  on  his  farm  near  St.  Catharines,  where  he  died  in 
1775,  over  ninety  years  old. 

Sir  William  went  to  Niagara  in  1766  to  hold  a  council  with 
delegates  of  the  Northwestern  Indians  who  had  recently  been 
engaged  in  Pontiac's  war  and  now  wanted  to  make  peace.  It 
may  be  mentioned  as  a  curious  fact  that  these  Indians,  who 
all  belonged  either  to  the  Algonquin  or  the  Ojibway  (Chip- 
pewa)  grand  divisions  of  the  Indian  race,  could  not  be  per- 

131 


Sir  William  Johnson 

Unquestionably  the  general  trend  of  pub 
lic  opinion  in  this  country  has,  for  nearly  a 
century  and  a  half,  been  unfavorable  to  Gen 
eral  Braddock,  and  prejudiced  toward  his 
memory.  We  have  neither  time  nor  space 
here  to  debate  the  question  whether  public 
opinion  in  this  instance  is  right  or  wrong, 
but  whatever  his  faults  may  have  been,  Brad- 
dock  lacked  neither  breadth  of  perception, 
boldness  of  design,  nor  bravery  in  execution. 
It  is  worth  while  to  say  here  that  George 
Washington,  who  was  his  aide-de-camp,  and 
stood  by  him  when  he  breathed  his  last,  never, 
in  all  his  writings  or  his  conversations,  had 

suaded  to  come  to  Johnson  Hall  because  that  would  compel 
them  to  pass  through  the  Iroquois  tribes,  their  hereditary 
foes.  Therefore  Sir  William  had  to  meet  them  at  Niagara. 
His  journal  during  this  conference  contains  the  following 
entry : 

"...  Had  the  pleasure  of  a  visit  from  the  venerable 
Captain  Joncaire,  now  past  seventy  (eighty),  but  hale  and 
hearty  and  a  most  loyal  subject  of  our  king.  We  had  a  long 
talk  in  Iroquois,  as  I  knew  no  French  and  he  no  English. 
He  asked  me  to  give  his  two  sons,  'Chabeare'  (Chaubert) 
and  Jean  Francois  (Clauzun),  something  to  do  in  our  Indian 
service.  I  found  them  to  be  quarter-breeds,  their  mother 
having  been  a  half-breed.  Discovering  that  they  were  very 
capable  fellows  and  loyal,  I  appointed  one  of  them,  Jean 
Francois,  interpreter  and  assistant  agent  at  St.  Mary's  [Sault 
Ste.  Marie],  and  '  Chabeare '  in  the  same  capacity  at  our  new 
post  of  Green  Bay  among  the  Menominees.  They  were  all 
very  grateful  and  declared  their  content  with  British  rule." 

132 


Braddock's  Defeat 

anything  but  the  kindest  words  to  say  of  Ed 
ward  Braddock.  He  was  undoubtedly  a  mar 
tinet,  rough  in  manner,  and,  perhaps,  severe 
if  not  cruel  in  his  methods  of  discipline,  but 
he  was  nevertheless  a  thoroughbred  soldier 
and  a  skilful  tactician,  within  the  teachings  of 
the  school  in  which  he  had  been  trained,  and 
a  general  strategist  of  far  more  than  ordi 
nary  ability. 

After  his  arrival  in  this  country  he  lost 
no  time.  Upon  reaching  Hampton  Roads, 
almost  his  first  act  was  to  summon  a  council 
of  Colonial  governors  to  meet  him  at  Alex 
andria,  Virginia.  The  governors  who  ac 
cepted  the  invitation  and  attended  this  coun 
cil  were  those  of  Massachusetts,  New  York, 
New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  and  Virginia. 
The  other  colonies,  except  South  Carolina  and 
Georgia,  which  took  no  part  in  the  conference, 
were  represented  by  their  lieutenant-govern 
ors.  Sir  William  Johnson  was  present  at  this 
conference  by  special  invitation.  He  and 
Benjamin  Franklin  were  the  only  members  of 
it  who  were  not  governors  or  lieutenant-gov 
ernors  of  colonies.  At  this  conference  Gen 
eral  Braddock  outlined  the  strategy  which  he 
had  planned  for  his  campaign  at  large.  He 
proposed  four  expeditions.  One  of  these  was 
to  be  carried  out  in  Nova  Scotia  under  the 
133 


Sir  William  Johnson 

governor  of  that  province — Lawrence — with 
the  object  of  finally  expelling  the  French  from 
that  peninsula,  but  it  had  no  direct  connection 
with  the  other  three  projects,  and  need  not  be 
considered  here. 

The  main  projects  were:  first,  an  expedi 
tion  to  be  commanded  by  Braddock  himself 
for  the  reduction  of  Fort  Duquesne  and  ex 
pulsion  of  the  French  from  the  Ohio  Valley  ; 
second,  an  expedition  to  be  commanded  by 
Governor  Shirley  of  Massachusetts  for  the 
reduction  of  Fort  Niagara,  with  the  ultimate 
object  of  cutting  French  communication  be 
tween  Lake  Ontario  and  the  upper  lakes ;  the 
third  was  an  expedition  for  the  reduction  of 
Crown  Point,  then  the  southernmost  fortress 
of  the  French  on  the  New  York  frontier.  As 
commander  of  this  last-mentioned  expedition 
he  named  Sir  William  Johnson,  at  the  same 
time  appointing  him,  as  has  already  been  re 
marked,  General  Superintendent  of  Indian 
Affairs  for  the  whole  of  British  North  Amer 
ica  in  the  name  of  the  king.  The  scope  of  this 
work,  as  already  intimated,  does  not  admit 
discussion  of  the  expeditions  assigned  to 
Braddock  himself,  Shirley,  or  Governor  Law 
rence  of  Nova  Scotia,  but  we  may  find  space 
for  some  detail  of  Sir  William  Johnson's  ex 
pedition  against  Crown  Point. 
134 


Braddock's  Defeat 

As  soon  as  the  conference  at  Alexandria 
was  over,  Johnson  returned  as  rapidly  as  he 
could  to  the  Mohawk  Valley,  and  immediately 
summoned  a  conference  of  Iroquois  chiefs  to 
meet  him  at  Mount  Johnson.  With  this  mes 
senger  he  sent  a  belt  of  wampum  to  each 
chief,  informing  him  of  the  appointment  he 
had  received  as  the  direct  royal  superintend 
ent  of  all  the  North  American  Indians,  which 
was  a  very  considerable  promotion  over  the 
commission  he  had  recently  held  as  superin 
tendent  of  the  Iroquois  only.  Upon  receipt 
of  this  information  the  Indians  did  not  need 
urging.  The  news,  says  Stone,  that  their 
brother  Warragh-i-ya-gey  had  again  been 
raised  up  to  power  among  them,  spread  like 
wildfire.  Within  ten  days  from  the  date  of 
his  call  for  this  conference,  over  1,000  Indians 
assembled  at  Mount  Johnson.  So  unprece 
dented  and  unexpected  was  the  number  pres- 
sent — by  far  the  largest  assemblage  of  Indi 
ans  ever  before  convened — that  Sir  William 
Johnson  was  altogether  taken  by  surprise, 
and  his  food-supply  completely  overwhelmed. 
He  had  to  call  in  the  assistance  of  a  large  num 
ber  of  his  most  prosperous  neighbors  for 
fifteen  or  twenty  miles  up  and  down  the 
Mohawk  Valley  to  help  him  out  in  this  re 
spect.  On  the  21st  of  June  he  opened  the 
135 


Sir  William  Johnson 

council  by  a  speech,  in  which  he  informed  the 
Indians  that  he  had  been  delegated  to  com 
mand  a  certain  expedition  against  a  certain 
important  fortress  of  the  enemy,  that  the 
forces  to  be  placed  at  his  disposal  were  to  be 
Provincial  troops  from  Massachusetts,  New 
Hampshire,  Connecticut,  and  New  York,  and 
that  it  was  expected  that  about  one  thousand 
picked  warriors  from  the  Six  Nations  should 
form  part  of  his  force,  to  be  commanded  by 
the  venerable  chief  sachem  of  the  Mohawks 
and  senior  chief  of  all  the  Iroquois — Hen- 
drick.  The  usual  interchange  of  oratory  then 
took  place,  after  which  the  Indians  departed 
for  their  respective  castles  and  villages,  full 
of  enthusiasm  and  promising  to  place  a  thou 
sand  warriors  at  his  disposal  within  six  weeks 
or  two  months.  So  well  satisfied  with  the 
results  of  this  council  was  Sir  William  that 
he  wrote  to  the  Duke  of  Cumberland  shortly 
after  that  "there  are  very  few  if  any  among 
the  whole  Iroquois  Confederacy  who,  in  the 
present  dispute  between  the  French  and  our 
Crown,  do  not  sincerely  wish  us  success,  and 
are  disposed  to  assist  our  arms." 

Sir  William  now  proceeded  energetically 
to  organize  his  expedition.     According  to  the 
original  plan,  the  force  employed  was  to  con 
sist  of  2,500  Provincial  troops  from  Massa- 
136 


Braddock's  Defeat 

chusetts?  New  Hampshire,  and  Connecticut; 
1,000  from  New  York,  and  1,000  Indians— 
4,500  altogether.    Before  the  end  of  July  all 
the    forces    destined    for    the    reduction    of 
Crown  Point  had  assembled  under  Sir  Will 
iam's  command  at  Albany.     The  contingents 
of  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  and  New  York 
were  a  little  in  excess  of  the  required  number. 
New  Hampshire  sent  500  men  organized  in 
seven  companies  under  command  of  Colonel 
Joshua   A.   Blanchard.     The   Massachusetts 
and  Connecticut  troops  were  commanded  by 
Colonel   Phineas   Lyman.     The   only  disap 
pointment  he  experienced  was  that  a  little 
less  than  600  Indians  responded  to  the  call, 
instead    of    the    thousand    expected.     This, 
however,  was  because  the  quota  of  Senecas, 
which  according  to  the  population  of  the  re 
spective  tribes  had  been  fixed  at  400,  was 
dilatory,  and,  in  fact,  was  not  mobilized  in 
time  to  take  any  active  part  in  the  campaign. 
This  was  due  partly  to  the  lingering  seeds  of 
disaffection   which   had   been   sown   by   the 
French  emissaries  among  the  Senecas  during 
the  past  three  years,  but  mainly  to  the  fact 
that  just  at  the  time  when  Hi-o-ka-to  and  Cap 
tain  Montour  were  assembling  their  warriors 
at  the  Falls  of  the  Genesee — say  about  the 
middle  of  July — they  received  the  stunning 
10  137 


Sir  William  Johnson 

and  utterly  demoralizing  news  of  Braddock's 
defeat,  which  had  occurred  the  9th  of  that 
month. 

These  tidings  threw  the  whole  of  the  Sen 
eca  Nation  into  a  ferment  of  doubt  and  hesi 
tancy,  which  all  the  eloquence  of  Montour  and 
all  the  stalwart  bullying  of  Hi-o-ka-to  were 
powerless  to  overcome.  All  they  could  do 
was  to  send  runners  to  Sir  William,  inform 
ing  him  of  the  state  of  affairs.  Montour 
persuaded  perhaps  twenty-five  or  thirty  Sen 
eca  warriors  to  accompany  him,  and  joined 
Johnson's  forces  at  Saratoga,  and  they  were 
the  only  Senecas  engaged  in  the  expedition. 
Hi-o-ka-to  stayed  behind,  declaring  his  de 
termination  to  bring  the  allotted  contingent  of 
Senecas  along  if,  as  he  expressed  it,  he  "had 
to  drag  every  mother's  son  of  them  by  the 
scalp-lock !  "  On  the  6th  of  August  Sir  Will 
iam  decided  not  to  wait  any  longer  for  the 
Seneca  contingent,  and  sent  Colonel  Lyman 
forward  with  the  New  York  and  Massachu 
setts  troops  to  erect  a  fort  on  the  bank  of 
the  Hudson  Eiver  at  the  south  end  of  the 
great  portage  between  that  river  and  Lake 
George,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  Fort 
Edward.  At  this  time  an  unfortunate  con 
troversy  arose  between  Sir  William  and  Gov 
ernor  Shirley,  growing  out  of  the  Govern- 
138 


Braddock's  Defeat 

or's  pique  at  what  he  considered  some  lack 
of  suitable  personal  attention  toward  him 
on  Johnson's  part.  This  controversy  re 
sulted  in  considerable  correspondence  of  a 
more  or  less  acrimonious  character,  which 
our  present  limits  of  space  preclude  us 
from  reproducing.  Suffice  to  say  in  general 
terms  that  the  whole  affair  grew  out  of  the 
personal  vanity  of  Governor  Shirley  brought, 
as  it  was,  in  contact  with  Sir  William's  mat 
ter-of-fact,  businesslike  way  of  transacting 
affairs. 

On  the  8th  of  August  Sir  William  himself 
set  out  from  Albany  with  the  stores,  baggage- 
train,  and  artillery  and  the  rest  of  the  troops, 
including  four  companies  of  the  New  York 
regiment,  which,  coming  from  Dutches s  and 
Ulster  counties  down  the  river,  were  a  little 
behind  those  raised  in  Albany  County.  This 
force  was  accompanied  by  the  Chief  Hendrick 
with  a  hundred  and  fifty  Mohawk  warriors, 
among  whom  was  Joseph  Brant,  then  a  mere 
boy  of  thirteen  years,  but,  notwithstanding 
his  extreme  youth,  able  to  carry  a  light  gun 
(a  small  fowling-piece  presented  to  him  by 
Sir  William)  that  he  had,  and  serving  in  the 
ranks. 

Sir  William  arrived  at  Fort  Edward  on 
the  14th  of  August,  where  he  was  joined  by 
139 


Sir  William  Johnson 

250  more  Indians,  making  the  total  number 
about  400;  and  afterward  120  more  came  in 
by  small  squads.  The  New  England  and  New 
York  troops  were  full  of  ardor  and  impatient 
of  delay.  The  news  of  Braddock's  defeat  had 
not  only  not  disheartened  them,  but  had  made 
them  all  the  more  anxious  to  be  led  against 
Crown  Point.  They  considered  this  expedi 
tion  a  measure  for  the  defense  of  their  fire 
sides.  One  of  the  Provincial  officers,  belong 
ing  to  the  Massachusetts  contingent,  Major 
Thomas  Williams,  wrote  a  letter  to  his  wife, 
in  which  he  said,  among  other  things:  "I  en 
deavor  to  keep  myself  calm  and  quiet  under 
our  slow  progress,  and  await  God's  time,  but 
the  advance  seems  very  slow."  Colonel 
Lyman  was  equally  restive  under  the  delay. 
Indeed,  a  day  or  two  before  Sir  William's 
arrival  at  Fort  Edward,  he  had  set  300  of  his 
men  to  work  to  cut  a  road  across  the  hills  to 
Fort  Ann,  supposing  that  the  army  would 
proceed  against  Crown  Point  by  way  of  Wood 
Creek  and  the  head  of  Lake  Champlain. 

Sir  William,  on  his  arrival,  called  a  coun 
cil  of  war  to  decide  upon  the  best  route,  and 
the  result  of  this  council  was  that  Colonel 
Lyman's  movement  was  countermanded.  A 
scouting  party  of  forty  soldiers,  under  Cap 
tain  John  Stark,  with  thirty  Indians,  was  then 
140 


Braddock's  Defeat 

sent  out  to  reconnoiter  the  whole  country  in 
the  vicinity  of  Lake  George.  When  these 
scouts  returned  another  council  of  war  was 
held  on  the  22d  of  August,  in  which  the  offi 
cers,  upon  hearing  their  report,  unanimously 
decided  that  the  Lake  George  route  appeared 
to  them  the  most  eligible,  and  that  it  ought 
to  be  immediately  adopted  as  the  plan  of  cam 
paign.  In  a  previous  chapter  we  have  men 
tioned  that  about  the  close  of  King  George's 
War,  seven  years  before,  Sir  William  had 
made  a  road  from  the  head  of  Lake  George  to 
Fort  Edward  or  Glens  Falls,  but  this  road 
had  been  neglected.  Many  trees  had  fallen 
across  it,  and  it  had  to  be  cleared  out.  So 
2,000  men  were  sent  forward  to  restore  this 
road,  with  orders  also  to  erect  at  the  head  of 
the  lake  a  fort,  with  suitable  buildings  in 
which  to  store  arms  and  other  munitions  of 
war  when  they  should  arrive. 

Then,  leaving  Colonel  Lyman  to  await 
the  rest  of  the  troops,  and  the  New  Hamp 
shire  Provincials  to  complete  and  garrison 
the  fort,  Sir  William  set  out  on  the  26th  of 
August  with  3,400  men  for  the  lake — a  dis 
tance  of  about  fifteen  miles— and  reached  it 
at  dusk  on  the  28th.  After  some  reconnoiter- 
ing  he  selected  on  the  29th  a  position  for  his 
camp  which  was  on  a  bluff  shore  of  the  lake, 
141 


Sir  William  Johnson 

flanked  at  both  ends  by  thickly  wooded 
swamps  where  small  creeks  emptied  in.  The 
French  had  always  called  this  lake  "St.  Sac 
rament,"  and  Sir  William  now  solemnly 
changed  it  to  Lake  George,  "not  only,7'  as  he 
said,  "in  honor  of  His  Majesty  the  King,  but 
to  assure  his  undoubted  dominion  here." 
Although  Lake  George  had  been  used  for 
many  years  as  a  means  of  communication, 
both  for  warlike  and  commercial  purposes, 
between  Canada  and  Albany,  yet  its  shores 
were  still  a  primeval  forest,  where  no  house 
had  ever  been  built  or  a  spot  of  land  cleared. 
The  troops  immediately  set  about  clearing  a 
place  for  a  camp  capable  of  sheltering  5,000 
men,  and  providing  housing  for  their  military 
stores. 

Meanwhile,  Colonel  Lyman,  as  soon  as  all 
the  dilatory  troops  arrived,  left  at  Fort 
Edward  a  garrison  of  250  Connecticut  Pro 
vincials  and  five  companies  of  the  New  York 
regiment,1  and  with  the  rest  of  his  force  joined 
the  camp  at  Lake  George  on  September  3d, 
bringing  with  him  all  the  heavy  artillery. 

1  We  have  used  the  term  "regiment"  in  speaking  of  the 
New  York  contingent.  But  besides  Schuyler's  regiment  of 
ten  companies  there  were  four  independent  companies,  com 
manded  by  Captains  Davis,  Ten  Eyck,  Munro  (Rangers),  and 
Vrooman. 

142 


Braddock's  Defeat 

Johnson  had  expected  to  be  joined  at  the  lake 
by  many  more  warriors  of  the  Six  Nations. 
He  expected  at  least  600,  although  he  had  re 
ceived  tidings  from  Hi-o-ka-to  and  informa 
tion  from  Captain  Montour,  who  had  then 
arrived  with  his  small  detachment  at  his 
camp,  that  there  was  little  hope  of  the  full 
Seneca  contingent  of  400  being  available.  In 
the  meantime,  de  Vaudreuil,  who  had  just 
succeeded  Duquesne  as  Governor-General  of 
Canada,  learned  by  papers,  taken  at  the  wreck 
of  Braddock's  army,  of  Shirley's  proposed  ex 
pedition  against  Niagara,  and  as  a  counter- 
movement  he  had  arranged  an  attack  upon 
Oswego,  but  learning  subsequently  that  Sir 
William  Johnson's  expedition  was  advancing 
by  way  of  Lake  George  against  Crown  Point, 
he  changed  his  purpose.  He  called  back  the 
French  force  already  on  its  way  to  Oswego, 
and  sent  them  under  Baron  Dieskau  to  meet 
Sir  William's  forces. 

The  baron  left  a  large  force — about  1,200 
men — at  Crown  Point,  and  taking  with  him 
280  French  regulars  of  the  Regiment  de  la 
Eeine,  800  Canadian  militia,  and  between  600 
and  700  Indians,  proceeded  up  Lake  Cham- 
plain  and  landed  at  the  head  of  that  lake,  with 
the  intention  of  marching  across  the  country 
and  attacking  Fort  Edward  in  Johnson's  rear, 
143 


Sir  William  Johnson 

with  a  view  of  cutting  off  his  retreat  and  in 
the  hope  of  thereby  annihilating  his  army. 
If  he  should  be  able  to  accomplish  this,  the 
route  to  Albany  and  the  lower  settlements  on 
the  Hudson  would  be  open  and  undefended. 
On  the  fourth  day,  however,  after  leaving  the 
head  of  Lake  Champlain,  the  French  army 
found  itself  on  the  road  to  Lake  George,  in 
stead  of  to  Fort  Edward,  and  Dieskau  dis 
covered  through  his  scouts  that  he  was  only 
four  miles  from  the  fortified  camp  which  Sir 
William  Johnson  had  made  on  the  bank  of 
the  lake.  Here  Dieskau  halted  and  sent  for 
ward  a  party  of  Indians,  under  the  direction 
of  Captain  de  St.  Pierre,  to  reconnoiter.  In 
the  course  of  their  reconnaissance  they  en 
countered  and  killed  a  courier  whom  General 
Johnson  had  sent  to  warn  the  garrison  at 
Fort  Edward  of  their  danger.  Dieskau,  dis 
covering  from  this  fact  that  Sir  William  was 
on  the  alert,  gave  the  Indians  under  his 
command  the  choice  of  either  attacking  the 
fort  or  marching  against  Sir  William's  camp 
at  the  lake.  The  Indians,  who  never  had  any 
stomach  for  artillery,  and  having  been  told  by 
a  prisoner  that  the  camp  at  the  lake  had  no 
cannon,  positively  refused  to  attack  the  fort, 
but  expressed  their  desire  to  be  led  against 
the  fortified  camp.  Dieskau  thereupon 
144 


Braddock's  Defeat 

marched  through  the  forests  toward  Lake 
George,  and  encamped  that  night  on  the  banks 
of  a  small  pond  a  little  to  the  eastward  of  the 
Lake  George  road,  and  at  the  southern  foot 
of  French  Mountain. 

About  nightfall  on  the  7th  of  September, 
Johnson  learned  through  his  scouts  that  a 
large  body  of  men  were  marching  toward  his 
camp.  Early  the  next  morning  he  sent  out 
about  800  Provincials  under  Colonel  Ephraim 
Williams,  and  the  whole  force  of  Hendrick's 
Iroquois  warriors,  led  by  the  venerable  chief 
himself,  to  find  the  enemy.  What  we  have 
called  "a  fortified  camp  "  was  simply  an  aba 
tis  or  rough  log  breastwork,  made  by  felling 
trees  across  the  foot  of  the  camp  and  lopping 
down  their  branches.  There  was  no  earth 
work  or  other  pretense  of  regular  fortifica 
tion,  excepting  that  places  were  cleared 
through  the  log-slashing  to  form  a  kind  of 
embrasure  for  the  four  cannon  that  he  had 
with  him  at  the  lake.  Dieskau,  advised  by  his 
Indian  scouts  of  the  movement  of  Colonel 
Williams  and  Hendrick,  arranged  an  ambus 
cade,  and  the  detachment,  when  about  two 
and  a  half  miles  from  the  camp,  walked  right 
into  it,  the  column  being  led  by  Hendrick  and 
his  warriors.  Dieskau  had  ordered  that  his 
men  should  reserve  their  fire  until  the  Provin- 
145 


Sir  William  Johnson 

cials  and  Iroquois  were  entirely  within  the 
half  circle  of  his  ambush,  but  before  the  de 
tachment  had  gone  that  far,  one  of  the  ene 
my's  muskets  went  off  accidentally,  where 
upon  the  attack  began.  Volley  after  volley 
was  poured  with  murderous  effect  upon  the 
Indians  in  front  and  upon  the  left  of  Will 
iams'  column  of  Provincials.  Hendrick,  who 
was  riding  at  the  head  of  his  column — a  large, 
corpulent  man,  and  wearing  a  brilliant  uni 
form — formed  a  conspicuous  mark  for  the 
enemy's  bullets,  and  was  killed  at  the  first 
fire. 

The  venerable  warrior  was  in  his  eightieth 
year  when  he  fell  in  battle.  Colonel  Will 
iams  was  also  killed  a  few  minutes  after  Hen 
drick,  being  shot  through  the  head  as  he  was 
in  the  act  of  mounting  a  rock  in  order  better 
to  direct  the  movements  of  his  men,  his  horse 
having  been  shot  under  him  a  few  minutes  be 
fore.  The  Provincials  and  Indians  now  broke, 
and  retreated  in  some  confusion,  the  enemy 
following  close  at  their  heels,  yelling  and  fir 
ing.  Beaching  a  small  pond  near  the  road  to 
the  lake,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Cole  of  the  Mas 
sachusetts  Provincials  succeeded  in  rallying 
two  hundred  or  more  of  them  in  a  favorable 
position,  and  stationing  his  men  behind  trees 
at  a  point  where  the  road  ran  close  to  the 
146 


KING   HEXDRICK   OF   THE   MOHAWKS. 


Braddock's  Defeat 

pond,  forming  a  sort  of  defile,  checked  the 
pursuit.  Sir  William,  as  soon  as  he  heard 
the  firing,  had  sent  Cole  with  300  men  to 
cover  the  retreat,  subsequently  reenforcing 
them  with  200  more  under  Major  Whiting. 
The  check  given  the  advancing  enemy  at  this 
little  pond — which  has  ever  since  been  known 
in  the  local  phrase  as  "  Bloody  Pond  " — en 
abled  the  survivors  of  the  force  of  Williams 
and  Hendrick  to  reach  the  fortified  camp,  into 
which  they  clambered  pell-mell  over  the  fallen 
trees  and  brush,  weary,  dejected,  and  dispir 
ited.  Had  Dieskau  been  able,  as  he  had  in 
tended,  to  take  advantage  of  the  confusion 
produced  in  Sir  William's  camp  by  the  arrival 
of  these  panic-stricken  fugitives,  and  while 
his  own  men  were  completely  flushed  with 
success,  he  might  possibly  have  made  a  grand 
rush  and  carried  the  improvised  barrier  or 
abatis  by  storm;  although,  notwithstanding 
the  demoralization  at  the  first  onset,  the  sub 
sequent  proceedings  indicate  that  even  this 
would  have  been  doubtful.  It  was  not  be 
lieved  by  the  Indians  and  Canadians  that  Sir 
William  had  any  artillery  in  his  camp  at  the 
lake,  but  when  they  arrived  in  sight  of  the 
breastwork  they  saw  that  he  had  four  guns 
mounted,  whereupon  they  halted  and  took 
shelter  in  the  woods.  This  left  only  the 
147 


Sir  William  Johnson 

French  regulars  for  attack,  and  before  Dies- 
kau  could  rally  and  reinspire  his  Indians  and 
Canadians,  the  Provincials  had  found  time  in 
which  to  improve  their  defenses  and  recover 
from  their  previous  demoralization. 

As  soon  as  Dieskau  had  rallied  and 
brought  his  Canadians  and  Indians  to  the 
front  again,  the  280  French  regulars  attacked 
Sir  William's  flimsy  defenses  in  the  center, 
advancing  rapidly  and  firing  by  platoons. 
The  Provincials,  however,  stood  firm,  and  the 
regulars,  after  losing  about  70  men  in  attack 
ing  the  center,  were  withdrawn.  Dieskau 
then  made  an  attack  with  his  Canadians  on 
the  left  flank  of  Johnson's  camp,  but  with  no 
better  effect.  Finally,  discovering  that  there 
was  a  gap  of  about  20  or  25  yards  between 
the  right  of  the  slashing  which  covered  John 
son's  camp  and  the  bank  of  the  thickly  wooded 
and  impassable  swamp  that  defended  his 
right  flank,  Dieskau  determined  upon  a  des 
perate  charge  of  his  regulars  in  column  of 
platoons  to  get  through  this  gap.  Had  this 
succeeded,  it  would  have  turned  Johnson's 
right.  The  regulars,  of  whom  about  210  were 
now  left,  charged  at  this  gap  as  they  might 
have  charged  at  Fontenoy,  Dieskau  leading 
them  in  person.  He  had  expected  an  easy 
victory,  but  now  the  stubbornness  of  the  resist- 
148 


Braddock's  Defeat 

ance  and  the  comparative  feebleness  of  the 
attacks  which  his  Canadian  militia  had  made 
filled  him  with  forebodings.  He  could  not 
bear  the  idea  that  he,  the  favorite  pupil  and 
at  one  time  chief  aide-de-camp  to  the  great 
Marshal  Saxe,  should  be  beaten  in  the  for 
ests  of  America  by  an  army  of  backwoods 
men,  commanded  by  a  f  aimer ! 

It  may,  perhaps,  be  fortunate  for  the  des 
tinies  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  in  this  coun 
try  that  this,  the  only  practicable  open 
breach  in  Sir  William's  line  of  defense,  was 
held  by  four  companies  of  the  New  Hamp 
shire  Provincials,  and  they  were  commanded 
by  their  senior  captain,  who,  though  senior  to 
the  other  captains  in  rank,  was  junior  to  them 
all  in  years.  The  four  companies  of  New 
Hampshire  Provincials  numbered  about  260 
to  280  men.  The  fighting  in  the  breach  was, 
for  the  most  part,  hand-to-hand.  Perhaps 
half  of  the  New  Hampshire  men  had  bayo 
nets;  those  who  had  none  used  the  butts  of 
their  muskets,  as  there  was  no  time  to  reload. 
This  desperate  combat  lasted  perhaps  seven 
or  eight  minutes.  At  its  end  the  French 
commander-in-chief,  Dieskau,  was  mortally 
wounded  and  a  prisoner.  Of  his  210  magnifi 
cent  French  regulars  belonging  to  "de  la 
Eeine  " — the  most  famous  regiment  in  the 
149 


Sir  William  Johnson 

French  army — only  41  escaped  unhurt.  The 
loss  of  the  New  Hampshire  Provincials 
was  between  90  and  100  out  of — say  260 
to  280. 

It  may  not  be  uninteresting  to  know  that 
the  unflinching  young  senior  captain  of  the 
New  Hampshire  Provincials,  who  held  his 
"embattled  farmers  "  to  their  deadly  work  in 
that  breach  against  the  flower  of  the  French 
regulars,  was  John  Stark,  then  only  twenty- 
seven  years  old.  Further  comment  does  not 
seem  necessary. 

The  battle  was  over.  Dieskau's  army, 
abandoning  all  its  baggage,  and  many  of  his 
men  throwing  away  their  guns,  fled  toward 
Crown  Point.  The  Provincials  were  ex 
tremely  desirous  of  pursuing  them,  but  Sir 
William  Johnson,  knowing  that  a  large  re 
serve  had  been  left  behind  at  Crown  Point, 
and  also  realizing  the  exhausted  condition  of 
his  troops,  who  had  suffered  very  consider 
able  losses,  did  not  deem  pursuit  prudent, 
and  though  urged  by  Colonel  Lyman  to  per 
mit  a  strong  advance,  peremptorily  forbade 
it,  and  ordered  his  troops  to  rest  on  their 
arms.  In  fact,  Sir  William  himself  had 
received  a  severe  wound  in  his  efforts  to 
rally  the  Indians  when  they  retreated  to  the 
breastwork  after  the  death  of  Hendrick.  He 
150 


Braddock's  Defeat 

was  outside  the  breastwork  on  horseback,11 
shouting  to  the  Indians  in  their  own  tongue, 
and  to  a  considerable  extent  restoring  confi 
dence  and  order  among  them.  Wishing  to 
look  behind  him  for  a  moment,  he  put  one 
hand  upon  the  pommel  and  the  other  upon 
the  cantle  of  his  saddle,  and  rising  up  in  his 
stirrups,  he  turned  half  round.  Just  as  he 
did  so  a  bullet  from  the  French  line  in  the 
woods  struck  him  in  the  left  hip  back  of  the 
joint,  grazing  the  bone,  passing  through  the 
fleshy  part  of  the  hip,  to  the  right  and  upward 
afc  an  angle  of  about  45  degrees,  and  lodging 
in  the  large  muscle  just  below  the  small  of 
the  back,  making  a  very  severe  and  painful, 
though  not  dangerous,  flesh  wound.  Painful 
as  this  wound  was,  Sir  William  kept  his  sad 
dle  until  the  crisis  was  over.  When  he  did  dis 
mount  his  left  leg  was  quite  paralyzed,  and  his 
left  boot  full  of  blood.  He  did  not  even  let  his 

1  A  curious  incident  occurred  in  this  battle.  Sir  William 
had  taken  with  him  in  the  campaign  a  magnificent  imported 
thoroughbred  stallion  which  he  used  as  a  charger  in  parades, 
reviews,  etc.  He  had  two  other  horses  of  more  common  and 
less  valuable  kind  that  he  used  in  battle.  At  the  beginning 
of  this  action  he  had  one  of  his  orderlies  take  the  stallion  to  a 
place  near  the  shore  of  the  lake  where  he  would  be,  as  was 
supposed,  out  of  range ;  but  a  stray  bullet  struck  the  blooded 
stallion  in  the  head  and  killed  him,  while  the  plebeian  nag 
Sir  William  rode  in  the  thick  of  the  melee  came  out  unhurt  1 
The  stallion  was  worth  £1,000,  the  nag  perhaps  £20. 

151 


Sir  William  Johnson 

men  know  that  he  had  been  hit.  Fortunately, 
it  was  an  Indian  bullet — only  about  half  the 
size  of  the  ounce-ball  of  the  regulation  musket. 
Curiously  enough,  he  and  the  French  com 
mander,  Baron  Dieskau,  were  taken  to  the 
surgeons  at  the  same  time,  and  Sir  William 
directed  them  to  dress  the  wounds  of  his 
fallen  antagonist  before  they  attended  to  his 
own.  The  bullet  that  wounded  Sir  William — 
a  half-ounce  ball  from  an  Indian's  gun — 
lodged  just  beneath  the  skin  at  the  lower  end 
of  the  great  muscle  on  the  left  side  of  the 
small  of  the  back,  and  was  easily  extracted  by 
cutting  through  the  skin. 

There  was  at  the  time  considerable  criti 
cism  in  military  circles  of  Sir  William's  fail 
ure  to  follow  up  this  victory  more  closely,  and 
he  himself  used  to  say  in  reply  to  these  criti 
cisms,  that  if  he  had  not  been  disabled,  the 
probability  is  that  he  would  have  yielded  to 
the  importunities  of  Colonel  Lyman  and  other 
officers  to  pursue  the  retreating  enemy.  His 
force  was  considerably  superior  numerically 
to  the  French  and  Indians.  The  highest  esti 
mate  we  have  ever  seen  of  Dieskau's  force 
was  that  it  amounted  to  1,800  men,  of  whom 
about  1,100  were  whites  or  half-breeds — 280 
or  300  French  regulars — and  800  Canadian 
militia,  together  with  about  700  Indians.  Sir 
152 


Braddock's  Defeat 

William  had  under  his  command  at  the  begin 
ning  of  the  action  not  less  than  3,000  to  3,200 
men,  of  whom  about  500  were  Indians ;  but  he 
knew  that  a  reserve  of  at  least  1,200  good 
troops — regulars  and  Canadian  militia — had 
been  left  at  Crown  Point ;  and  as  the  distance 
between  that  place  and  this  battle-field  was 
less  than  a  day's  forced  march,  there  was  dan 
ger  of  a  counter  attack  which,  falling  as  it 
must  have  done  upon  raw  troops  thoroughly 
tired  out  and  considerably  shaken  by  their 
losses,  might  have  proved  disastrous. 

Stone  says  that  when  Colonel  Lyman 
begged  that  he  might  take  the  Massachusetts 
and  the  New  York  troops,  with  such  of  the 
Indians  as  might  be  rallied  to  follow  him,  and 
pursue  the  enemy,  Sir  William  replied: 
"Much  as  I  admire  your  spirit  and  honor  your 
purpose,  colonel,  I  have  reason  to  expect  that 
the  reserve  left  at  the  Point  will  join  the  force 
we  have  been  contending  with,  during  the 
night,  and  then  the  attack  on  this  position  is 
likely  to  be  renewed  to-morrow.  Therefore, 
I  consider  it  dangerous  to  weaken  my  force 
by  dividing  it."  The  question  whether  this 
view  of  the  situation  was  sufficient  to  justify 
his  refusal  of  Lyman's  request  is,  of  course, 
purely  a  matter  of  speculation.  It  was  one 
of  those  cases  where  there  can  be  no  rule  of 
11  153 


Sir  William  Johnson 

action  except  the  judgment  of  the  command 
ing  officer  on  the  spot.  One  thing  is  to  be 
said  of  Sir  William  Johnson,  however,  and 
that  is,  in  whatever  capacity  of  life  or  in  what 
ever  emergency,  private  or  public,  civil  or 
military,  he  was  always  cool  and  cautious, 
and  if  in  any  military  operation  he  committed 
an  error,  it  was  always  sure  to  be  on  the  side 
of  prudence.  "The  proof  of  the  pudding, 
etc.,"  is  exemplified  in  his  case.  He  com 
manded  two  very  important  expeditions  dur 
ing  the  old  French  war — the  one  under  con 
sideration  and  the  one  which  resulted  in  the 
capture  of  Fort  Niagara — and  it  must  be  said 
of  him  that  if  he  never  won  any  great,  bril 
liant,  or  startling  victory,  he  never  got 
whipped ! 

No  farther  advance  was  made  by  the 
forces  under  Sir  William  Johnson  toward 
Crown  Point.  It  was  getting  late  in  the  sea 
son.  After  deducting  the  losses  in  the  battle 
of  Lake  George,  and  taking  account  of  the  fact 
that  most  of  the  Indians  returned  to  their 
homes  soon  afterward,  thus  reducing  John 
son's  force  to  less  than  2,400  all  told,  it  ap 
pears  reasonable  that  he  should  pause  at  the 
idea  of  attempting  to  storm  or  even  besiege 
a  regular  fortification  like  Crown  Point  with 
that  number  of  men,  none  of  whom  were  regu- 
154 


Braddock's  Defeat 

lar  troops,  when  the  work  itself  was  sure  to 
be  defended  by  a  force  very  nearly  equal,  and 
likely  to  be  largely  reenforced  from  Canada. 
The  cooperating  colonies  of  New  York,  Mas 
sachusetts,  Connecticut,  and  New  Hampshire 
showed  no  disposition  to  reenforce  Johnson. 
So  that  on  the  whole  we  think  it  may  justly 
be  said  that,  in  pursuing  the  course  he  did — 
that  is  to  say,  of  fortifying  the  positions  he 
had  gained,  and  of  making  sure  of  his  lines  of 
communication  in  his  rear — Sir  William  dis 
played  in  a  marked  degree  that  virtue  which 
is  generally  described  by  the  aphorism  that 
"discretion  is  the  better  part  of  valor."  At 
any  rate,  the  king  and  the  Duke  of  Cumber 
land  appeared  to  be  perfectly  satisfied  with 
what  he  had  achieved,  because,  as  soon  as  the 
news  of  the  battle  of  Lake  George  reached 
England,  he  was  made  a  baronet  of  the  hered 
itary  class,  and  promoted  to  the  rank  of 
major-general  in  the  British  regular  army, 
on  the  Colonial  establishment. 

One  of  the  best  expressions  I  have  seen 
with  regard  to  the  real  value  of  Sir  William 
Johnson's  victory  at  Lake  George  was  made 
by  Cortlandt  Van  Rensselaer.  He  said  the 
principal  value  of  this  victory  was  its  influ 
ence  in  rallying  the  spirits  and  restoring  the 
confidence  of  the  American  colonies.  Much 
155 


Sir  William  Johnson 

had  been  expected  from  the  three  expeditions 
planned  at  Alexandria  and  sent  against  the 
French.  Disappointment  and  sorrow  had 
already  followed  Braddock's  terrible  defeat. 
A  different  though  not  less  bitter  feeling  had 
been  experienced  at  the  failure  of  Shirley's 
expedition  against  Fort  Niagara.  While 
General  Johnson  had  not  achieved  the  ulti 
mate  object  of  his  expedition — which  was  to 
take  Crown  Point — he  had  inflicted  a  terrible 
and  destructive  defeat  upon  a  powerful 
French  force,  led  by  the  best  general  the 
French  had  on  this  side  of  the  ocean,  in  which 
that  general  was  himself  placed  liors  de 
combat  forever.  Not  only  were  the  colonies 
filled  with  rejoicing,  but  the  influence  of  the 
triumph  went  over  to  England,  and  the  deeds 
of  the  Provincials  at  Lake  George  became 
familiar  to  the  ears  of  royalty  and  were  ap 
plauded  by  the  eloquence  of  orators  on  the 
floor  of  Parliament.  The  moral  effects  of  a 
battle,  in  which  the  forces  arrayed  against 
each  other  were  comparatively  small,  have 
rarely  been  greater  or  more  decisive  in  the 
whole  range  of  military  annals.  Viewed 
simply  in  its  military  aspect,  the  battle  of 
Lake  George  was  the  only  successful  achieve 
ment  in  all  the  thirteen  colonies  during  the 
campaign  of  1755. 

156 


Braddock's  Defeat 

Although  General  Johnson's  expedition, 
as  already  remarked,  failed  in  its  ultimate 
object  in  reducing  Crown  Point,  it  still  had  a 
glamour  in  the  brilliant  success  of  a  hard- 
fought  and  well-won  pitched  battle.  In  war 
success  in  one  direction  may  and  does  often 
overbalance  reverse  or  shortcoming  in  an 
other.  At  the  very  least,  or  at  the  minimum 
of  its  importance,  it  was,  after  all,  the  one 
great  event  of  the  campaign  of  1755.  Above 
all,  it  was  purely  an  achievement  of  the  yeo 
manry  of  New  York  and  New  England.  Not 
a  single  British  regular  was  there,  either  offi 
cer  or  enlisted  man,  and  certainly  not  the 
least,  if  not,  indeed,  the  greatest  of  its  values, 
was  the  lesson  it  taught  to  the  military 
world  that  American  Provincials  could  suc 
cessfully  face  and  overcome  French  regulars. 

Sir  William  Johnson's  wound  practically 
disabled  him  for  about  three  months,  and  for 
the  rest  of  his  life  he  always  walked  with  a 
slight  halt  or  limp  in  the  left  leg.  However, 
he  did  not  leave  the  camp,  but  continued  in 
command,  giving  his  personal  attention  to  his 
duties.  As  soon  as  his  wound  was  suffi 
ciently  healed  to  enable  him  to  leave  his 
bed,  it  was  his  habit  to  be  carried  about 
on  a  litter,  inspecting  the  fortifications  of 
the  base  of  operations  he  had  gained,  di- 
157 


Sir  William  Johnson 

recting  the  movements  of  scouting  parties 
and  forays  into  the  enemy's  country — • 
in  short,  commanding  his  forces  quite  as 
actively  and  as  efficiently  as  he  might  have 
done  had  he  come  out  of  the  battle  unscathed. 
He  did  not  return  to  his  home  at  Mount  John 
son  until  after  winter  set  in.  Then  Colonel 
Lyman — now  promoted  to  the  regular  rank 
of  brigadier-general  on  the  colonial  establish 
ment — was  left  in  command  of  the  northern 
line  of  defenses,  and  no  further  operations 
were  attempted  until  the  following  spring. 
After  the  death  of  Hendrick  he  was  succeeded 
as  principal  sachem  of  the  Mohawks  by  the 
elder  Brant,  whom  we  have  previously  called 
Nicklaus.  In  the  battle  at  Lake  George, 
Brant  succeeded  Hendrick  in  command  of  the 
Indians.  Sir  William's  influence  may  have 
had  something  to  do  with  this  selection,  be 
cause  there  was  another  prominent  candidate 
for  the  succession.  At  this  time  the  elder 
Brant  may  have  been  considered  Sir  Will 
iam's  "father-in-law,"  because,  a  little  more 
than  a  year  previously,  he  had  made  Brant's 
daughter  Mary  the  object  of  his  affections 
and  mistress  of  his  household.  As  to  the 
other  and  more  exalted  distinction  which  Hen 
drick  had  so  long  held — that  of  senior  chief 
of  the  Iroquois  Confederacy,  which  was  an 
158 


Braddock's  Defeat 

elective  position,  not  hereditary — was  left 
vacant  for  twenty  years,  until  in  1775  Joseph 
Brant  was  chosen  to  fill  it. 

Joseph  Brant  was  present  in  this  battle, 
though  only  thirteen  years  old.  In  his  de 
scription  he  says:  "When  the  firing  began  I 
was  so  overcome  that  I  had  to  seize  hold  of  a 
sapling  to  steady  myself.  But  I  instantly 
thought  that  such  feelings  were  not  those  of 
a  warrior,  and  went  on  loading  and  firing  the 
small  gun  I  had,  the  same  as  the  others. 
.  .  .  My  father,  seeing  me  standing  in  an 
open  space,  somewhat  roughly  ordered  me  to 
get  behind  a  tree — which  I  hastily  obeyed, 
though  I  had  not  before  thought  of  taking 
cover." 

In  January,  1756,  Sir  William,  having 
fully  recovered  from  his  wounds,  went  to  New 
York  city  to  lay  his  annual  report  before  the 
Governor  and  confer  with  the  Committee  of 
Supply,  whose  custom  it  was  to  have  him 
explain  in  detail  his  recommendations  for 
Indian  appropriations.  We  have  already 
noted  that  during  the  campaign  of  1755  some 
friction  occurred  between  Sir  William  and 
Governor  Shirley.  After  the  death  of  Brad- 
dock,  Shirley  resumed  the  position  in  which 
the  former  had  superseded  him — that  of  com- 
mander-in-chief  in  British  North  America. 
159 


Sir  William  Johnson 

He  set  up  the  singular  contention  that,  as  Sir 
William  had  been  appointed  and  commis 
sioned  by  Braddock  to  be  General  Superin 
tendent  of  Indian  Affairs  at  Large,  his 
authority  ended  with  Braddock's  life,  and 
must  be  renewed  or  approved  by  his  suc 
cessor! 

Acting  upon  this  theory,  Shirley  had,  at 
the  beginning  of  the  year,  served  upon  Sir 
William  a  new  commission,  accompanied 
with  a  mass  of  "instructions/'  all  of  which 
were  unnecessary  and  most  of  which  were 
absurd.  Sir  William  determined  now  to  set 
tle  the  matter  once  for  all.  He  replied  po 
litely  to  Shirley,  and  as  he  always  did  every 
thing  openly  and  aboveboard,  he  informed 
him  of  his  intention  to  lay  the  whole  affair 
before  the  king  and  ministry.  He  did  this 
in  two  letters — one  to  Secretary  Fox  of  the 
Board  of  Trade  and  the  Colonies,  the  other 
to  the  king  himself.  In  due  time  Secretary 
Fox  addressed  to  him  a  letter  containing  a 
royal  commission  as  "Agent,  Sole  Superin 
tendent  of  the  Six  Nations  and  all  other  Indi 
ans  inhabiting  British  territory,  north  of  the 
Carolinas  and  the  Ohio  River,"  with  a  fixed 
salary  of  £600  per  annum,  and  a  like  amount 
for  official  expenses.  At  the  same  time  the 
ministry  addressed  circular  letters  to  all  the 
160 


Braddock's  Defeat 

Colonial  governors,  enclosing  copies  of  Sir 
William's  new  commission,  informing  them 
that  "it  was  the  act  of  the  king  himself 
through  an  order  in  council,"  and  "forbidding 
any  Colonial  governor  to  transact  any  busi 
ness  with  the  Indians  or  hold  any  communi 
cation  with  them  except  through  Sir  William 
Johnson." 

This  action  settled  his  status  for  all  time, 
and  he  henceforth  had  a  free  hand.  Shirley, 
ignominiously  snubbed,  had  to  content  him 
self  with  a  personal  hatred  toward  the  baro 
net,  which  he  ever  afterward  ardently  cher 
ished.1  Shirley  was  an  active,  energetic  man, 
of  considerable  ability  in  many  directions. 
But  he  was  full  of  vanity,  subject  to  small  jeal 
ousies  and  petty  piques.  These  traits  weak 
ened  and  seriously  compromised  the  efficiency 
of  an  otherwise  strong  character  and  fertile 
mind.  He  could  never  forgive  Sir  William 

1  Shirley's  subsequent  splenetic  and  impotent  hatred  was 
amusing  rather  than  inconvenient  to  Sir  William.  In  one  of 
his  letters  to  Gen.  Jeffrey  Amherst  in  1759,  between  whom 
and  the  baronet  the  warmest  friendship  existed,  he  says : 

"Shirley  hates  me.  I  am  sorry  for  him;  I  almost  pity 
him.  He  has  many  good  traits  that  are  good  and  useful,  but 
he  has  also  a  few  small  traits  that  are  bad  and  harmful — more 
to  himself  than  to  any  one  else.  His  trouble  lies  in  his  tend 
ency  to  subordinate  the  great  traits  to  the  small  ones.  I  do 
not  know  of  another  instance  where  the  makings  of  a  great 
character  have  been  so  spoiled  by  foibles." 

161 


Sir  William  Johnson 

for  winning  the  battle  of  Lake  George 
against  Dieskau,  the  French  commander-in- 
chief,  while  he  (Shirley)  was  retreating  in 
disorder  from  Oswego,  pursued  by  a  French 
colonel ! 


162 


^s^'^fM^tM^l 

tiM^^Kml 

;\jj*lf  ;.-<r€O!;*'.wfe! 


CHAPTER   IV 

SERVICES    IN    THE    LAST    PART    OF    THE    WAR 
1756-1761 

WE  may  pass  rapidly  over  the  events  of 
1756  and  1757.  There  never  were  two  drear 
ier  years  in  the  history  of  the  British  Empire. 
Corruption  and  imbecility,  incarnate  in  the 
ministry  of  Newcastle,  seemed  to  have 
reached  the  uttermost  dregs  of  defeat,  dis 
grace,  and  disaster.  And  nowhere  were  the 
effects  so  humiliating  or  so  disheartening  as 
in  the  American  colonies.  The  worst  of  these 
effects  took  the  shape  of  three  generals  sent 
over  during  that  period.  They  were  Lord 
Loudoun,  General  Abercrombie,  and  General 
Webb. 

Loudoun  was  a  titled  prig,  with  no  knowl 
edge  whatever  of  the  conditions  of  warfare 
in  America,  and  very  little  anywhere  else. 
He  was  equally  ignorant  of  the  spirit  of  the 
colonists  or  the  genius  and  working  of 
their  institutions.  The  only  things  he  ever 
did,  or  apparently  knew  how  to  do,  were  to 
163 


Sir  William  Johnson 

display  pomp,  procrastinate,  and  find  fault. 
He  despised  the  Provincial  soldiers,  held 
the  Colonial  governments  in  contempt,  and 
seemed  to  think  that  his  orders  ought  to  re 
peal  laws.  It  is  difficult  to  imagine  such 
utter  perversity  of  conception  or  such  fla 
grant  degeneracy  of  mental  process  in  a  man 
raised  under  British  institutions  as  were  in 
carnate  in  this  empty,  vapid,  puffball  of  Eng 
lish  aristocracy.  Fortunately  he  did  not  last 
long.  But  while  he  did  last,  he  contrived  to 
bring  the  war  to  its  most  desperate  stage,  to 
make  French  success  almost  universal  from 
Lake  Champlain  to  the  Ohio,  and  to  enshroud 
the  hopeless  colonies  in  a  gloom  that  trenched 
closely  upon  the  borders  of  despair.  Eng 
land  has  raised  a  big  brood  of  worthless 
"noblemen"  (so-called).  But  she  had  never 
before,  nor  has  she  ever  since,  quite  dupli 
cated  the  pattern  of  Lord  Loudoun. 

Abercrombie  was  a  bluff  but  dull  soldier, 
whose  sole  idea  of  warfare  was  the  paste 
board  system  then  in  vogue  on  the  continent 
of  Europe.  He  was  brave,  even  to  rashness, 
but  his  courage  was  that  of  stupidity  rather 
than  of  reason.  He  always  wanted  to  do 
everything  with  the  bayonet,  and  was  appar 
ently  too  obtuse  to  see  any  difference  in  the 
chances  of  that  weapon  between  the  open 
164 


Services  in   Last  Part  of  the  War 

plains  of  Europe  and  the  tangled  woods  of 
America. 

His  one  effort  was  the  assault  of  Fort  Ti- 
conderoga  with  14,000  men,  about  half  of 
whom  were  British  regulars.  Montcalm  de 
fended  the  works  with  3,600,  of  whom  less 
than  2,000  were  French  regulars.  Abercrom- 
bie  lost  2,000  men  in  half  an  hour,  inflicting 
on  his  adversaries  a  loss  of  less  than  50. 
Though  he  had  over  twelve  thousand  men  left 
and  a  heavy  train  of  siege-artillery  that  had 
not  been  used  at  all,  he  made  no  attempt  at 
regular  siege,  but  retreated  precipitately  to 
his  base  of  operations.  Sir  William  John 
son  was  present  with  Abercrombie's  army  at 
the  head  of  450  to  500  Indians,  but  they  were 
not  permitted  to  do  anything,  and  shared  the 
disheartenment  of  their  white  comrades. 
Abercrombie,  like  Loudoun,  was  of  short  du 
ration.  His  strut  upon  the  American  stage 
was  very  brief.  But  while  he  strutted  he 
managed  to  paralyze  the  largest  and  best- 
appointed  army  that  had  ever  been  assembled 
on  American  soil. 

And  now  we  come  to  Webb.  The  sole  ex 
ploit  of  this  "general  "  was  to  hold  his  army 
in  firm  leash  at  Fort  Edward,  while  Montcalm 
at  his  leisure  besieged  and  took  Fort  Wil 
liam  Henry,  only  a  few  miles  away,  his  Indi- 
165 


Sir  William  Johnson 

ans  massacring  many  of  the  garrison  after 
the  surrender.  The  only  help  he  could  vouch 
safe  to  Colonel  Munro.  commanding  the  fort, 
was  in  the  shape  of  a  letter  advising  him  to 
surrender.  But  we  may  let  Sir  William  de 
scribe  Webb.  He  said  to  Colonel  Peter 
Schuyler  at  Albany,  in  a  talk  about  the  mas 
sacre  of  Fort  William  Henry  shortly  after 
Schuyler's  return  from  Canada  on  parole : 

Webb 's  malady  is  constitutional.  If  he  had  let 
me  go,  I  believe  I  could  have  compelled  the  French 
to  raise  the  siege.  If  he  had  supported  me  with  his 
whole  force,  I  believe  we  could  have  beaten  Mont- 
calm.  We  had  nearly  seven  thousand  effective 
troops,  and  Munro  had  about  sixteen  hundred  more 
in  his  garrison  and  fortified  camp.  Montcalm  had 
no  more  than  six  thousand  effective.  But  Webb, 
instead  of  marching  to  the  relief  of  Munro,  sent 
him  a  letter  advising  him  to  surrender  on  the  best 
terms  he  could  get.  You  know  the  rest.  I  hate 
to  say  it,  but  the  truth  must  be  told.  Webb  en 
joys  a  solitary  and  unique  distinction.  He  is  the 
only  British  general — in  fact,  I  may  say  the  only 
British  officer  of  any  rank — I  ever  knew  or  heard 
of  who  was  personally  a  coward. 

That  Webb  was  and  is  such,  no  one  who  served 
with  him  or  under  him  could  fail  to  perceive.  He 
was  nearly  beside  himself  with  physical  fear  after 
the  fall  of  Fort  William  Henry.  His  army  was 
in  good  spirits,  anxious  to  fight.  The  general  alone 
166 


Services  in  Last  Part  of  the  War 

was  panic-stricken!  The  fate  of  Braddock,  who 
was  an  old  comrade  of  his  in  the  Guards,  almost 
upset  his  mind.  At  his  headquarters  in  Fort  Ed 
ward,  when  I  was  present,  the  subject  of  Brad- 
dock's  expedition  came  up,  and  Webb  spoke  with 
almost  puerile  fear  of  the  horrors  of  falling  into 
the  hands  of  the  Indians.  He  declared  he  was 
sure  they  would  burn  him  at  the  stake  if  they  ever 
caught  him,  because  they  knew  he  was  the  most 
dangerous  enemy  they  ever  had!  (sic.) 

It  was  different  on  the  French  side. 
While  the  English  colonies  were  sweltering  in 
the  agony  of  imbecile  command  and  sweating 
bloody  sweats  under  the  pompous  inanity  of 
Loudoun,  the  brutal  stupidity  of  Abercrombie 
and  the  indescribable  buffoonery  and  pol 
troonery  of  Webb,  the  French  had  their  Mont- 
calm!  This  man  was  a  wonder.  We  must 
judge  what  he  did  by  our  knowledge  of  what 
he  had  to  do  it  with.  When,  in  1756,  he  took 
the  supreme  command  of  the  French  forces 
in  Canada,  in  succession  to  the  Baron  Dies- 
kau,  defeated,  wounded,  and  captured  by  Sir 
William  Johnson  at  Lake  George,  Montcalm 
found  himself  almost  wholly  dependent  on  the 
resources  of  the  colony  itself.  The  impo- 
tency  of  the  Newcastle  ministry  had,  indeed, 
sufficed  to  paralyze  the  military  arm  of  Eng 
land  in  America  on  the  land.  But  not  even 
167 


Sir  William  Johnson 

the  Newcastle  blight  could  wholly  wreck  or 
even  seriously  cripple  the  sea-power  of  Eng 
land. 

So  it  happened  that  while,  under  Loudoun 
and  Abercrombie  and  Webb,  disaster  trod  on 
the  heels  of  disaster  by  land,  the  navy  of  old 
England  proved  irrepressible,  and  with  its 
Hawkes,  its  Boscawens,  and  its  Howes,  made 
the  ocean  path  between  old  France  and  New 
France  all  the  time  well-nigh  impassable,  and 
most  of  the  time  wholly  so.  Indeed,  the 
French  sixty-gun  ship  that  Montcalm  himself 
came  over  in  was  twice  in  the  midst  of  Howe's 
squadron  between  Cape  Race  and  Bay  Cha- 
leur,  and  escaped  only  by  reason  of  dense 
fogs.  But,  if  they  did  not  happen  to  catch 
Montcalm,  they  proved  abundantly  able  to 
intercept  most  of  his  supplies  and  to  capture 
or  chase  back  to  France  all,  or  nearly  all,  of 
the  transports  bringing  reenforcements. 

The  result  was  that  when  Montcalm  as 
sumed  command  he  instantly  saw  that  he 
must  fight  it  out  with  such  resources  in  men 
and  supplies  as  the  colony  already  held,  and 
that  he  could  place  no  reasonable  dependence 
upon  further  reenforcement  or  succor  of  any 
kind  from  the  parent  state.  Here,  in  this 
situation,  the  sea-power  of  England  doubtless 
wrote  the  brightest  chapter  in  its  history — 
168 


Services  in   Last  Part  of  the  War 

brighter,  even,  in  the  splendor  of  its  contri 
bution  to  the  sum-total  of  success  and  vic 
tory,  than  the  page  on  which  are  inscribed 
the  words  "Nelson"  and  "Trafalgar." 

For,  in  the  final  act  of  the  drama,  which 
was  a  play  for  the  sovereignty  of  a  continent, 
while  such  generals  as  Amherst,  Wolfe, 
Forbes,  and  Sir  William  Johnson  were  strik 
ing  their  fatal  blows  at  French  dominion  on 
land,  the  omnipresent  and  inevitable  fleets  of 
Hawke,  Boscawen,  and  Howe  were  choking 
French  dominion  to  death  on  the  sea. 

As  soon  as  Montcalm  had  gotten  fairly  in 
the  stirrups  in  1756,  he  planned  and  executed 
an  attack  on  the  important  English  post  of 
Oswego.  This  was  the  key  of  the  western 
Iroquois  country,  the  principal  entrepot  of 
the  English  fur-trade  in  that  region,  and  a 
base  from  which  Lake  Ontario  might  be  com 
manded  by  a  naval  force.  It  had,  in  1756,  a 
garrison  of  1,500  or  1,600  men,  and  a  small 
population  of  civilian  traders,  with  a  few 
women  and  children.  Montcalm  crossed  the 
lake  from  Oswegatchie,  and  in  August,  1756, 
invested  Oswego  with  about  2,000  French 
regulars,  2,000  Canadian  militia,  and  1,000 
Indians — the  latter  commanded  by  the  after 
ward  famous  Pontiac.  After  a  brief  resist 
ance  the  small  garrison  surrendered  at 
12  169 


Sir  William  Johnson 

discretion.  The  Indians  at  once  desired  to 
indulge  in  a  general  massacre,  and  ap 
proached  the  place  where  the  prisoners  were 
under  guard. 

Montcalm,  determined  that  the  glory  of 
his  arms  should  not  be  tarnished  by  cruelty 
to  prisoners,  ordered  his  French  regulars  to 
protect  the  captives  at  the  point  of  the  bay 
onet.  They  obeyed  to  the  letter,  but  it  was 
not  until  after  they  had  killed  six  of  the  Indi 
ans  and  badly  wounded  eighteen  or  twenty 
more  that  the  savages  desisted.  The  able- 
bodied  men  of  the  garrison  were  taken  to  Can 
ada  as  prisoners  and  the  women  and  children 
sent  to  Onondaga  Castle  under  a  guard  of 
French  regulars.  The  approach  of  this  escort 
spread  consternation  through  the  Mohawk 
Valley.  The  people  thought  it  was  the  van 
guard  of  an  invasion  in  force.  Montcalm, 
however,  destroyed  the  forts  and  other  build 
ings,  sent  belts  of  peace-wampum  to  the  west 
ern  Iroquois,  and  invited  them  to  a  conference 
with  the  Governor-General  at  Montreal.  He 
then  returned  with  his  whole  force  to  Canada. 

The  French  archives  contain  evidence  that 
Montcalm's  first  intention  really  was  to  in 
vade  New  York  by  way  of  the  Mohawk  Val 
ley.  But  upon  a  closer  reconnaissance,  he 
concluded  that  the  transportation  of  supplies 
170 


Services  in   Last  Part  of  the  War 

by  that  route  would  present  insuperable  dif 
ficulties.  After  the  fall  of  Oswego  he  had 
conferences  with  certain  Seneca,  Cayuga,  and 
Onondaga  chiefs,  from  whom  he  gained  the 
impression  that  in  consequence  of  the  recent 
demonstrations  of  strength  on  the  part  of  the 
French,  and  weakness  of  the  English,  they 
would  remain  neutral  in  the  future. 

Montcalm,  upon  his  return  to  Canada,  dis 
posed  his  forces  for  an  invasion  of  the  north 
ern  colonies  by  way  of  Lake  Champlain  early 
the  next  spring,  and  made  no  other  movement 
of  importance  during  the  season  of  1756.  The 
Canadian  Government,  however,  actively  pro 
moted  and  instigated  Indian  forays  upon  the 
New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  New  England 
border  settlements,  whereby  the  whole  winter 
of  1756-57  was  kept  hideous  with  ravage  and 
massacre  from  the  Kennebec  to  the  Susque- 
hanna. 

Early  in  1757  Montcalm  moved  up  Lake 
Champlain,  and  on  the  18th  of  March  made  a 
demonstration  against  Fort  William  Henry, 
using  the  ice  on  Lake  George  as  a  roadway 
of  approach.  Finding  the  place  too  strong 
to  be  taken  by  coup  de  main,  he  retired  to 
Crown  Point,  and  awaited  the  opening  of 
navigation.  Meantime  he  began  the  building 
of  the  formidable  works  known  as  Fort  Ti- 
171 


Sir  William  Johnson 

conderoga,  as  an  advanced  post  some  miles 
south  of  the  Point. 

As  soon  as  the  lakes  were  clear  of  ice  he 
transported  a  force  of  about  6,000  l  men — 
3,000  regulars,  2,000  Canadian  militia,  and 
1,000  Indians — in  250  bateaux,  to  the  head  of 
Lake  George,  and  on  the  4th  of  August  in 
vested  Fort  William  Henry  and  the  fortified 
camp  under  its  guns,  held  by  Colonel  Munro 
with  something  over  1,600  men.  General 
Webb  was  at  Fort  Edward,  less  than  a  good 
day's  march  distant — only  14  miles — with 
4,500  men,  about  half  of  whom  were  regulars. 
Munro  asked  for  assistance,  but  Webb  be 
lieved  that  Montcalm  had  at  least  14,000  men, 
and  cowered  behind  the  parapets  of  Fort  Ed 
ward.  Two  days  after  the  formal  investment 
of  Fort  William  Henry,  Sir  William  Johnson 
joined  Webb  from  Albany  with  nearly  2,000 
Provincials  and  500  to  600  Indians.  He 
asked  Webb  to  give  him  another  thousand 
men  and  let  him  march  at  once  to  the  relief  of 
Munro.  Webb  at  first  assented,  but  when 
Johnson's  head  of  column  had  got  about  four 

1  A  detachment  1,200  or  1,400  strong  under  M.  de  Levi 
inarched  down  the  western  shore  of  the  lake.  This  was  a 
ruse  of  Montcalm  to  impress  the  garrison  when  they  should 
see  de  Levi's  detachment  approaching  by  land  that  it  was  a 
reenforcement. 

172 


Services  in  Last  Part  of  the  War 

miles  from  Fort  Edward,  peremptorily  re 
called  him,  saying  Montcalm  was  too  strong, 
and  expressing  fear  that  Johnson  would 
share  the  fate  of  Braddock. 

In  vain  Sir  William  assured  him  that  his 
scouts,  both  Indians  and  Stark's  Rangers,  had 
informed  him  that  the  French  force  did  not 
exceed  6,000.  In  vain  he  entreated  and  ex 
postulated.  Webb  was  firm.  Irresolute  in 
everything  else,  he  could  be  firm  only  in  his 
poltroonery  and  consistent  only  in  his  cow 
ardice. 

Montcalm  contented  himself  with  destroy 
ing  Fort  William  Henry.  That  fort  had  been 
made  the  depot  of  ordnance  intended  for  the 
movement  contemplated  against  Crown  Point. 
Montcalm  found  there  a  siege-train  of  twelve 
heavy  guns,  several  mortars,  and  a  large  sup 
ply  of  ammunition  and  stores.  These  he  took 
away  and  retired  to  Ticonderoga,  making  no 
attempt  on  Fort  Edward,  though  his  Indians 
killed  and  scalped  several  of  Webb's  soldiers 
within  sight  of  its  ramparts.  Montcalm  has 
been  criticized  for  his  failure  to  follow  up 
this  success.  But  his  force  was  too  small. 
He  had  only  a  little  over  seven  thousand 
men,  including  the  garrison  of  Crown  Point. 
Webb  had  nearly  as  many. 

Montcalm  naturally  shrank  from  attack- 
173 


Sir  William  Johnson 

ing  a  strong  fortification  like  Fort  Edward 
with  a  force  little  if  any  larger  than  that  of  its 
defenders.  Had  he  been  better  acquainted 
with  Webb  this  consideration  might  not  have 
had  so  much  weight  in  his  mind.  Owing  to 
the  failure  of  Governor-General  de  Vaudreuil 
to  send  a  promised  convoy  of  wagons  and 
pack  animals  to  him,  he  was  deficient  in 
means  of  land  transport.  And  besides  all 
this,  he  knew  that  the  militia  of  New  York, 
Connecticut,  and  Massachusetts  would  be 
mobilized  at  once  to  support  Webb.  This,  in 
fact,  occurred;  more  than  12,000  militia  as 
sembling  within  striking  distance  of  Fort 
Edward,  a  few  weeks  after  the  fall  of  Fort 
William  Henry.  Montcalm  did  all  that  his 
resources  permitted. 

Only  one  other  "great  operation "  oc 
curred  during  the  season  of  1757.  Late  in 
the  summer  Lord  Loudoun  sailed  from  Hali 
fax  with  eleven  thousand  troops  and  a  fleet  of 
sixteen  sail  of  the  line. under  Admiral  Hoi- 
born,  to  attack  Louisburg.  But  just  as  the 
fleet  was  fairly  under  way,  a  vessel  sent  out 
to  reconnoiter  arrived  with  information  that 
the  garrison  of  Louisburg  had  just  received 
reenforcements,  and  that  the  French  fleet 
there  was  superior  to  Admiral  Holborn's  by 
one  ship  of  the  line.  His  lordship  thereupon 
174 


Services  in   Last  Part  of  the  War 

countermanded  the  orders  for  Louisburg  and 
sailed  with  his  troops  for  New  York ! 

Arriving  in  New  York,  his  lordship  spent 
the  rest  of  his  valuable  time  while  in  the  col 
ony  trying  to  bully  the  Governor  and  Assem 
bly,  and  oppressing  the  inhabitants  by  billet 
ing  his  troops  upon  them.  There  was  no 
earthly  pretext  for  this  outrage,  because  he 
had  plenty  of  stores  and  camp  equipage,  and 
was  amply  prepared  to  make  comfortable 
winter  quarters  for  his  army  in  camp.  His 
conduct  can  be  attributed  to  nothing  but  his 
arrogance,  his  ignorance,  and  his  malignity. 
As  a  bully  and  a  despot,  Loudoun  was  a  great 
success.  In  every  other  capacity  he  was  a 
failure  that  beggars  language  to  describe. 

But  while  there  was  a  dearth  of  large 
operations  in  1757,  the  tomahawk  and  scalp- 
ing-knife  were  busy  along  the  whole  frontier, 
the  most  conspicuous  foray  being  that  against 
German  Flats  on  the  Mohawk,  in  November 
of  that  year.  The  thriving  village  was 
utterly  destroyed  and  its  inhabitants,  with  a 
few  exceptions,  butchered  or  carried  into  cap 
tivity.  It  was  the  most  atrocious  massacre 
known  since  Count  de  Frontenac's  ravage  of 
Schenectady  in  February,  1690. 

When  the  attack  on  German  Flats  was 
made,  Sir  William,  recently  returned  from  the 
175 


Sir  William  Johnson 

northern  frontier,  was  prostrated  by  the 
breaking  out  of  his  old  wound  received  at 
Lake  George.  But  he  instantly  arose,  mus 
tered  about  300  militia  and  250  Indians  under 
Nicklaus  Brant,  and  started  to  meet  the 
French  and  Indians,  supposing  that  they 
would  continue  their  advance  down  the  val 
ley.  But  they,  in  their  turn,  hearing  of  Sir 
William's  preparation  to  meet  them,  hastily 
retreated  to  Canada  without  further  effort  at 
destruction,  except  two  or  three  isolated  mur 
ders.  The  forays  continued  all  the  winter  by 
small  parties,  but  on  the  whole  not  as  destruc 
tively  or  through  so  wide  a  range  as  during 
the  previous  winter. 

The  most  disastrous  effect  of  all  these  re 
verses,  so  far  as  Sir  William's  duties  were 
concerned,  was  the  disaffection  they  inspired 
among  the  western  Iroquois.  The  Senecas 
and  Cayugas  openly  revolted  against  Eng 
lish  influence.  We  have  noted  that  Mont- 
calm,  when  he  took  Oswego,  invited  those 
tribes  and  the  Onondagas  to  send  delegates 
for  a  conference  with  the  Governor-General 
at  Montreal.  In  August,  1757,  soon  after 
they  learned  the  fate  of  Fort  William  Henry, 
the  Senecas,  Cayugas,  and  Onondagas  sent 
delegates  to  meet  de  Vaudreuil.  The  Onei- 
das  did  not  send  regular  delegates,  but  sev- 
176 


Services  in   Last  Part  of  the  War 

eral  members  of  the  tribe,  including  the  half- 
breed  chief  Antone,  went  on  their  own  re 
sponsibility  —  as  they  afterward  explained 
to  Sir  William,  "  not  to  speak  with  two 
tongues,  but  that  our  brother  Warragh-i-ga- 
hey  might  have  eyes  and  ears  there  to  see 
and  hear." 

This  was  probably  true,  because  the  Onei- 
das,  though  admitted  to  the  sessions  of  the 
conference,  were  regarded  by  the  western 
Iroquois  delegates  with  suspicion,  and  were 
closely  watched.  The  Mohawks  and  Tusca- 
roras  alone  remained  firm  in  their  fealty  to 
the  English.  Sir  William  was  perplexed  by 
these  events,  but  he  did  not  despair.  In 
October,  1757,  he  wrote  a  letter  to  the 
Duke  of  Cumberland,  which  he  requested 
the  duke  to  show  to  his  royal  father.  In 
this  letter  he  said: 

.  .  .  But  besides  all  other  ill-effects  of  our 
reverses  during  these  two  years  past,  is  the  very 
important  consideration  that  they  have  weakened 
our  alliance  with  the  Six  Nations  almost  to  the 
breaking  point.  The  Indian  respects  nothing  so 
much  as  power  and  success,  and  nothing  so  little  as 
apparent  weakness  and  reverses.  As  they  say  at 
the  race-course,  the  Indian  is  always  shrewd  in 
' '  picking  out  the  winner. ' '  Judged  by  their  prot 
estations  to  me  after  the  Battle  of  Lake  George, 
177 


Sir  William  Johnson 

one  would  have  thought  that  no  vicissitudes  of 
fortune  could  cause  these  Indians  to  waver.  But 
the  victories  of  Montcalm  and  the  apparent  in 
ability  of  our  generals  to  make  the  best  use  of  the 
resources  they  have,  are  causing  .the  Indians — 
that  is,  the  Western  Iroquois — to  believe  that  the 
French  are  going  to  win  in  this  contest. 

The  result  is  that  my  influence  over  them,  per 
sonal  as  well  as  official,  is  almost  gone,  and  I  have 
no  power  of  my  own  to  restore  it.  But  it  could  be 
at  once  restored  by  a  great  victory  here  for  our 
arms.  I  do  not  wish  to  criticize  individuals  who 
are  my  superiors  in  rank,  but  in  a  general  way  I 
must  say  that  the  commanders  we  have  in  the  Colo 
nies  now  are  not  adapted  to  the  peculiar  responsi 
bilities  cast  upon  them,  and  while  they  may  be 
exceedingly  competent  under  the  conditions  of  war 
fare  in  Europe,  they  do  not  and  apparently  can 
not  grasp  the  special  military  problems  presented 
by  our  modes  of  war  in  the  woods.  Your  Boyal 
Highness  is  well  aware  that  ours  is  a  kind  of  war 
fare  that  in  the  main  may  be  termed  irregular ;  and 
while  regular  troops,  properly  commanded  and 
handled,  are  of  great  value  in  its  operations,  only 
disaster  can  result  from  attempts  to  apply  the  teach 
ings  of  Marlborough  and  Frederic  of  Prussia  to 
the  problems  presented  by  our  war  in  the  wilder 
ness.  I  am  sure  there  are  generals  in  His  Majesty's 
army  who  could  quickly  and  effectively  adapt 
themselves  to  our  peculiar  conditions,  but  none  of 
them  has  as  yet  been  sent  here. 

178 


Services  in   Last  Part  of  the  War 

Thus  closed  the  second  of  the  two  dreary 
years  1756  and  1757.  The  handful  of  French 
men  in  Canada  appeared  about  to  vanquish 
the  multitude  of  Britons  in  the  American  col 
onies,  and  the  "  balance  of  power  "  that  the 
Indians  held  seemed  gradually  but  surely 
slipping  over  into  the  French  side  of  the 
scale.  Henderson,  in  his  Historical  Mem 
oirs  of  the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  says  that 
much  of  the  great  change  which  soon  occurred 
in  the  management  of  affairs  in  America  was 
indirectly  due  to  him. 

At  last,  the  puny  and  pusillanimous  min 
istry  of  the  Duke  of  Newcastle  came  to  an  end. 
He  resigned,  with  great  reluctance,  in  Novem 
ber,  1756,  after  being  decisively  beaten  on  three 
or  four  important  votes  in  the  House  of 
Commons.  William  Pitt  succeeded  him,  and 
at  once  began  comprehensive  measures  for 
the  restoration  of  England's  failing  prestige. 
Pitt  held  the  premiership  only  five  months — 
till  April,  1757 — but  during  this  brief  period 
he  sowed  the  seeds  of  success  broadcast. 
However,  after  Pitt  resigned  the  king  found 
himself  unable  to  form  a  ministry,  and  when 
England  had  been  nearly  three  months  with 
out  a  government,  Newcastle  and  Pitt  formed 
in  the  early  part  of  July,  1757,  a  coalition 
Cabinet,  of  which  the  duke  was  figurehead, 
179 


Sir  William  Johnson 

without  a  portfolio,  and  Pitt,  in  the  joint 
capacity  of  Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs 
and  for  War,  was  the  actual  premier. 

Of  course,  it  required  some  time  for  this 
great  change  to  produce  results.  There  were 
no  cables  under  the  ocean  then,  nor  could  the 
sailing  ships  of  those  days  make  definite  time- 
schedules  like  the  steam  transports  of  our 
era.  Therefore,  some  delay  was  inevitable 
before  Pitt's  genius  could  express  itself  across 
three  thousand  miles  of  sea,  with  only  the 
wings  of  sailing  vessels  to  carry  its  inspira 
tions.  But  toward  the  end  of  1758  the  ex 
pression  of  Pitt's  genius  began  to  be  felt,  not 
only  in  America,  but  in  India — in  other 
words,  all  the  way  from  the  Ganges  to  the 
Ohio.  Pitt  brought  forth  a  Jeffrey  Amherst 
where  Newcastle  had  a  Lord  Loudoun;  a 
Wolfe  where  Newcastle  had  an  Abercrom- 
bie,  and  a  Forbes  where  Newcastle  had  a 
Webb! 

Before  the  end  of  1758,  Amherst  had  taken 
Louisburg  at  one  end  of  the  line  and  Forbes 
had  occupied  Fort  Duquesne  at  the  other  end. 
The  only  disaster  that  year  was  the  bloody 
repulse  of  Abercrombie's  assault  on  Ticon- 
deroga,  on  which  sufficient  comment  has  al 
ready  been  made  in  our  brief  sketch  of  that 
general.  Late  in  1758  General  Sir  Jeffrey 
180 


Services   in   Last  Part  of  the  War 

Amherst  became  Commander-in-chief  of  all 
the  British  forces  in  North  America,  and  from 
that  moment  the  tenor  and  spirit  of  the  con 
duct  of  the  war  on  the  part  of  the  English 
changed. 

General  Amherst  was  peculiarly  adapted 
to  the  situation — more  so,  doubtless,  than  any 
other  officer  of  his  rank  then  in  the  British 
army.  He  was  a  man  of  plain,  unaffected 
manners.  In  all  his  transactions  he  was 
straightforward,  frank,  and  sincere.  He  had 
passed  several  years  of  his  early  military  life 
— 1735  to  1743 — in  Colonial  garrisons,  was 
widely  acquainted  in  Colonial  society,  intelli 
gently  comprehended  the  political  institutions 
of  the  colonies,  respected  their  rights,  and  ad 
mired  the  pluck  which  they  had  so  long  dis 
played  under  incompetent  leadership  and  con 
sequent  disaster.  He  liked  the  Provincial 
officers  and  men,  and  they  liked  and  confided 
in  him.  Prior  to  his  time  the  rule  had  been 
that  no  Provincial  officer  should  command 
regular  troops. 

One  of  Amherst's  first  acts  was  an  order 
to  the  effect  that  when  regulars  and  Provin 
cials  were  serving  together,  the  ranking  offi 
cer  in  actual  grade  should  command,  whether 
regular  or  Provincial,  with  the  reservation 
only  that  when  a  regular  and  a  Provincial 
181 


Sir  William  Johnson 

officer  of  the  same  grade  were  operating 
together,  the  regular  should  have  the  prece 
dence,  irrespective  of  date  of  commission. 

General  Amherst  was  methodical — some 
times  almost  to  the  point  of  slowness,  but  he 
was  sure,  and  as  the  sequel  proved,  his  sturdy 
prudence  served  the  cause  better  than  bril 
liant  audacity  might  have  done.  He  has 
been  severely  criticized  for  failing  to  push 
on  to  Canada  and  reenforce  Wolfe  after  his 
capture  of  Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point  in 
July,  1759,  had  opened  the  road.  But  Isle 
aux  Noix  was  still  formidable,  and  besides, 
the  French  had  four  quite  respectable  brigs- 
of-war  on  Lake  Champlain,  while  the  English 
had  no  naval  force  there  whatever.  As  it 
turned  out,  Wolfe  did  not  need  his  help.  Am 
herst  said  this  himself,  and  remarked  that 
"Wolfe's  behavior  at  Louisburg,  as  his  sec 
ond  in  command,  had  satisfied  him  of  that 
general's  ability  to  shift  for  himself."  More 
over,  to  reach  Quebec  from  the  foot  of  Lake 
Champlain,  a  considerable  land  march  had  to 
be  made,  and  Amherst  was  very  deficient  in 
land  transport. 

The  effects  of  this  turn  of  fortune  were 

soon  apparent  among  the  western  Iroquois. 

In  the  fall  of  1758  Sir  William  Johnson  was 

invited  by  a  number  of  chiefs  of  the  Senecas, 

182 


Services   in   Last  Part  of  the  War 

Cayugas,  and  Onondagas  to  meet  them  in 
grand  council  at  Onondaga  Castle,  the  loca 
tion  of  the  "Long  House,"  or  what  might  be 
called  the  "Federal  Capital  "  of  the  Six  Na 
tions.  On  this  he  asked  the  advice  of  Am- 
herst,  who  was  then  at  Albany.  The  general 
advised  Sir  William  not  to  go  to  Onondaga 
Castle,  but  send  a  counter-invitation  to  the 
chiefs  to  meet  him  at  his  own  headquarters, 
Mount  Johnson. 

"It  is  clear  that  they  are  beginning  to  see 
the  turn  of  the  tide,  my  dear  Sir  William," 
wrote  Amherst,  "and  while  we  must  forgive 
their  conduct  these  two  years  past,  we  must 
not  let  them  forget  that  it  is  they,  and  not  we, 
who  are  on  the  stool  of  repentance.  They 
will  come  to  your  house.  And  when  they  do, 
they  will  respect  you  more  and  have  a  deeper 
sense  of  your  dignity  than  if  you  went  to 
theirs." 

The  baronet  took  the  general's  advice,  and 
the  conference,  attended  by  over  a  hundred 
Indians,  among  whom  were  the  principal 
chiefs  of  the  western  Iroquois,  was  held  at 
Mount  Johnson,  with  the  happiest  results. 

During  the  winter  of  1758-59  General 
Amherst  matured  his  plans  for  a  comprehen 
sive  invasion  of  Canada.  The  taking  of  Lou- 
isburg  and  Fort  Duquesne  at  each  extrem- 
183 


Sir  William  Johnson 

ity  of  the  long  military  frontier  had  clipped 
the  wings  of  French  power. 

The  French,  however,  still  held  the  im 
portant  frontier  posts  of  Ticonderoga,  Crown 
Point,  and  Fort  Niagara.  Early  in  Decem 
ber,  1758,  Amherst  sent  an  outline  of  his  plans 
to  Pitt.  These  plans  involved  expeditions  by 
land  for  the  reduction  of  Ticonderoga  and 
Crown  Point  on  Lake  Champlain,  and  of  Fort 
Niagara  on  the  Niagara  Eiver.  So  long  as 
the  French  held  Ticonderoga  and  Crown 
Point  they  could  command  the  approaches  to 
Canada  by  Lake  Champlain,  and  Fort  Niag 
ara  was  the  key  to  communication  by  the 
Great  Lakes.  Amherst's  plans  also  contem 
plated  a  direct  attack  upon  Quebec  itself  by 
sea.  He  gave  Pitt  his  judgment  in  detail  as  to 
the  number  of  troops  that  would  be  required 
for  these  expeditions,  and  he  also  suggested 
commanders  for  them. 

For  the  command  of  the  expedition 
against  Quebec  he  named  General  James 
Wolfe,  who  had  been  his  second  in  command  at 
the  reduction  of  Louisburg  the  previous  sum 
mer.  For  command  of  the  expedition  to  Ni 
agara  he  recommended  Sir  William  Johnson, 
and  he  himself  undertook  to  command  the 
operations  against  Ticonderoga  and  Crown 
Point.  His  recommendation  of  Wolfe  was  at 
184 


Services  in  Last  Part  of  the  War 

once  adopted  by  Pitt  and  confirmed  by  the 
king. 

At  that  time  the  genius  of  British  military 
education  and  thought  ran  largely  to  gravity 
and    slowness.     Wolfe    was    everything   but 
grave  and  slow,  and  for  that  reason,  although 
his  career  had  been  thus  far  brilliant  wher 
ever  he  had  an  opportunity,  he  was  looked 
upon  in  the  sage  and  solemn  councils  of  the 
Horse  Guards  as  a  dare-devil,  if  not  a  hair- 
brained    sort    of    fellow — capable    of    great 
things  under  command  of  some  one  else,  but 
hardly  fit  to  be  trusted  with  grave  responsi 
bilities  of  his  own.    Indeed,  when  his  appoint 
ment  to  command  the  Quebec  expedition  be 
came  generally  known,  several  prominent  men 
remonstrated  with  the  king  himself,  and  one 
of  them,  whose  name  has  not  been  given  to 
history,  declared  that  Wolfe  was  a  madman. 
The  supposition  is  that  the  author  of  this  re 
mark  was  the  Duke  of  Newcastle  himself, 
though  Lord  Hervey  in  his  Historical  Mem 
oirs  of  George  II  does  not  say  so.     But,  who 
ever  it  may  have  been,  the  old  king,  who  had 
become  thoroughly  disgusted  with  the  conduct 
of  affairs  in  the  American  colonies,  angrily 
responded  in  the  decided  Dutch  brogue  he 
had:  "Yell,  den,  if  Volfe  is  mat,  I  hope  he  yill 
pite  some  of  my  udder  chenerals !  " 
13  185 


Sir  William  Johnson 

All  of  Amherst's  recommendations  were 
adopted,  except  that  Pitt  thought  it  would  be 
best  to  place  a  British  regular  officer  of  high 
rank  in  command  of  the  Niagara  expedition, 
and  make  Sir  William  Johnson  second  in  com 
mand.  The  man  selected  for  the  command 
of  the  Niagara  expedition  was  General  John 
Prideaux,  a  soldier  who  had  served  for  many 
years  in  the  Grenadier  Guards  and  had 
achieved  a  high  reputation  in  the  war  of  the 
Austrian  Succession,  and  also  in  the  opera 
tions  on  the  continent  of  Europe  during  the 
war  under  consideration.  The  selection  of 
Prideaux  proved  happy,  like  all  the  rest  of 
Pitt's  acts.  As  soon  as  he  arrived  in  this 
country  and  took  command  of  his  expedition, 
which  had  already  been  organized  by  Sir 
William  Johnson,  he  frankly  told  the  baronet 
that  he  should  rely  upon  his  experience  and 
judgment  implicitly — that  he  himself  "knew 
nothing  of  the  conditions  of  warfare  in  the 
woods  of  America,  and  he  was  not  going  to 
pretend  that  he  did."  He  told  Sir  William 
that  he  should  hold  him  responsible  for 
proper  suggestion  and  advice  every  day,  and 
that  whenever  he  (Sir  William)  advised  or 
suggested  anything,  he  might  consider  it  as 
done. 

Under  these  circumstances,  a  force  assem- 
186 


Services  in   Last  Part  of  the  War 

bled  at  Oswego  under  command  of  Prideaux 
at  the  end  of  June,  consisting  of  1,200  Brit 
ish  regulars,  1,800  Provincials — mostly  New 
Yorkers — and  700  Indians  under  Sir  William 
Johnson.  Before  the  expedition  left  Oswego 
Sir  William  was  joined  by  280  more  Indians, 
mostly  Senecas  and  Cayugas.  The  whole 
force,  therefore,  assembled  at  Oswego  was 
3,000  white  troops  and  980  Indians.  On  the 
1st  of  July  General  Prideaux,  leaving  Colo 
nel  Haldimand  with  about  200  regulars  and 
550  Provincials  to  hold  Oswego,  sailed  with 
2,250  white  troops  and  980  Indians  for  Fort 
Niagara,  landed  on  the  6th  of  July  below  the 
fort,  with  but  trifling  resistance,  and  on  the 
7th  formally  invested  it.  The  siege  went  on 
without  incident  of  special  note  until  the  19th 
of  July,  when  General  Prideaux  was  instantly 
killed  by  the  premature  bursting  of  a  shell 
upon  the  discharge  of  a  Cohorn  mortar, 
whereupon  the  command  devolved  upon  Sir 
William  Johnson.  Here  it  is  worth  while  to 
call  attention  to  the  absolute  fairness  and 
sense  of  justice  which  animated  Sir  William. 
In  his  report  of  the  campaign  to  General  Am- 
herst  he  said:  "Much,  in  fact  most,  of  the 
credit  of  this  achievement  belongs  to  the  late 
General  Prideaux,  because  I  had  carefully 
studied  his  plans,  which  he  imparted  to  me 
187 


Sir  William  Johnson 

with  perfect  freedom,  and  I  executed  them 
with  all  the  precision  and  skill  of  which  I  am 
capable,  departing  from  them  only  when  com 
pelled  to  do  so  by  circumstances  which  he 
could  not  have  foreseen." 

In  the  meantime  Colonel  d' Aubrey,  com 
manding  the  western  district  of  Canada,  gath 
ered  from  the  posts  at  Detroit,  Venango,  Fort 
Leboeuf,  and  Presque  Isle,  all  their  garri 
sons,  abandoning  them  entirely.  By  this 
means  he  assembled  a  force  of  about  1,200 
men,  of  whom  perhaps  200  were  French  regu 
lars  and  1,000  Canadian  militia.  With  these 
and  some  500  Indians,  he  hastened  from 
Presque  Isle  across  Lake  Erie,  and  ap 
proached  Niagara,  with  the  intention  of  rais 
ing  the  siege.  Sir  William,  however,  was 
well  informed  of  d?  Aubrey's  movements  by 
his  Indian  scouts,  and  on  the  20th  of  July, 
knowing  that  the  French  commander  had 
reached  a  point  about  eight  miles  from  the 
fort,  left  a  sufficient  force  in  the  trenches  to 
prevent  the  garrison  from  making  a  success 
ful  sortie,  and  then  marched  out  with  the  rest 
of  his  army  to  meet  the  enemy.  The  force 
which  he  took  to  meet  d' Aubrey  consisted  of 
800  British  regulars,  about  700  Provincials, 
and  all  of  the  Indians,  the  total  strength  be 
ing  a  little  over  2,300.  He  disposed  his  forces 
188 


Services   in   Last  Part  of  the  War 

with  the  British  regulars  in  the  front  and 
center,  closely  supported  by  the  Provincials; 
on  the  right  he  placed  the  whole  contingent  of 
Senecas  and  Cayugas,  some  400  strong,  under 
Hi-o-ka-to  and  Jean  Montour ;  and  on  the  left 
flank  the  rest  of  his  Indians,  about  500  strong, 
commanded  by  the  Onondaga  chief  Onasdego, 
and  the  Mohawk  chief  Nicklaus  Brant. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  in  this  battle 
young  Joseph  Brant,  son  of  the  chief,  though 
only  seventeen  years  old,  served  as  lieutenant 
in  the  Canajoharie  company  of  Mohawks. 

It  happened  that  Sir  William's  Indians 
forming  his  two  flanks  came  in  sight  of  the 
enemy's  Indians,  similarly  formed,  a  few  min 
utes  before  the  white  troops  got  sight  of  each 
other.  The  field  of  battle  was  mostly  a  grove 
of  large  trees,  without  much  underbrush,  and 
there  was  little  impediment  to  the  maneu- 
vring  of  infantry.  The  two  forces  of  Indi 
ans  charged  each  other  furiously,  making  the 
scene  hideous  with  their  yells.  At  the  same 
time  the  British  regulars,  advancing  rapidly 
through  the  most  open  part  of  the  timber, 
suddenly  struck  the  Canadian  militia,  who 
were  somewhat  demoralized  by  the  fact  that 
their  Indian  allies  began  to  give  way  on  either 
flank.  The  regulars,  led  by  Sir  William  in 
person,  fired  one  volley,  and  then  charged 
189 


Sir  William  Johnson 

through  the  open  timber  with  the  bayonet. 
In  less  than  half  an  hour  cP Aubrey's  troops, 
French  regulars,  Canadians  and  Indians 
alike,  were  totally  routed,  and  fled  in  the  most 
bewildering  confusion,  furiously  pursued  by 
Sir  William's  Indians,  who,  for  more  than 
three  miles,  strewed  the  ground  with  their 
bodies.  In  this  action  146  of  the  French  were 
killed  and  96  soldiers  and  17  officers  taken 
prisoners,  among  whom  was  the  commandant 
d' Aubrey  himself.  The  number  of  wounded 
was  not  stated  in  Sir  William's  report,  but  it 
undoubtedly  exceeded  300.  The  force  which 
d' Aubrey  had  brought  to  raise  the  siege  was 
completely  dispersed,  and  was  never  reor 
ganized. 

Sir  William  then  returned  to  his  lines  at 
the  fort,  and  at  sundown  of  the  same  day  sent 
Major  Harvey  of  his  staff  to  the  commander 
of  the  fort,  informing  him  of  the  result  of  the 
battle,  and  advising  him  to  capitulate.  Sir 
William  concluded  his  letter  as  follows:  "I 
desire  not  only  to  avoid  further  useless  ef 
fusion  of  blood,  but  I  must  also  warn  you  that 
if  you  force  me  to  extremities  and  compel  me 
to  storm  your  works,  I  might  not  have  it  in 
my  power  to  restrain  my  Indians,  who  would, 
by  an  obstinate  and  fruitless  resistance  on 
your  part,  become  too  much  enraged  to  be 
190 


Services  in   Last  Part  of  the  War 

withheld."  The  French  commander,  Pouchet, 
yielded  to  this  advice,  and  at  seven  o'clock  the 
next  morning  (July  25th)  the  garrison,  con 
sisting  of  618  of  all  ranks,  surrendered  at  dis 
cretion.  The  fort  was  occupied  by  Sir  Will 
iam's  troops,  and  the  male  prisoners  were 
escorted  by  a  detachment  of  the  Forty-fourth 
Eegiment  of  British  regulars  to  Oswego ;  from 
there  they  were  sent  to  New  York,  and  from 
New  York  to  England.  The  women  and  chil 
dren,  or  at  least  such  of  them  as  desired  to 
do  so,  were  allowed  to  go  to  Montreal. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark  that,  although  in 
this  operation  Sir  William  had  under  his  com 
mand  nearly  a  thousand  Indians,  almost  half 
of  whom  were  Senecas  and  Cayugas — at  that 
time  among  the  savagest  of  Indian  tribes,  so 
far  as  methods  of  warfare  were  concerned — 
and  who  were,  besides,  extremely  wrought  up 
by  the  loss  of  several  of  their  braves,  includ 
ing  two  popular  chiefs — yet  not  the  least  in 
jury  or  insult  was  offered  by  them  to  the  cap 
tured  garrison,  nor  did  they  take  any  of  the 
private  property  of  the  French  troops,  or  of 
the  families  that  were  in  the  fort.  They  took 
only  such  plunder  as  Sir  William  Johnson 
allotted  to  them  in  the  way  of  legitimate 
spoils.  By  this  exploit  Sir  William  Johnson 
— then  already  decorated  by  the  victory  at 
191 


Sir  William  Johnson 

Lake  George — became  among  the  most  fa 
mous  men  in  all  the  colonies  and  in  England. 
General  Amherst  wrote  him  a  most  compli 
mentary  letter,  praising  the  skill  of  his  com 
binations  and  the  efficiency  of  his  execution 
of  them.  The  Duke  of  Cumberland  also 
wrote  a  letter  to  him  saying,  in  allusion  to 
Sir  William's  total  lack  of  regular  military 
education  or  training,  that  "if  all  of  His 
Majesty's  gentlemen  subjects  were  like  your 
self,  there  would  be  no  need  of  military 
schools." 

The  principal  strategical  consequence  of 
the  reduction  of  Fort  Niagara  was  to  sever 
the  last  link  of  communication  between  the 
eastern  and  western  possessions  of  France  in 
North  America,  and  its  importance  to  the  gen 
eral  plan  of  operations  was  but  little  if  any 
less  than  the  taking  of  Fort  Ticonderoga  and 
Crown  Point  about  the  same  time  by  the  main 
army  under  General  Amherst. 

Sir  William  was  extremely  attached  to 
General  Prideaux.  When  that  officer  first 
arrived  in  the  colony  in  the  spring,  while  the 
expedition  was  forming,  he  was  Sir  William's 
guest  at  Mount  Johnson  for  several  days.  In 
a  letter  of  condolence  to  the  general's  rela 
tives  in  England,  Sir  William  said,  among 
other  things : 

192 


Services   in   Last   Part  of  the  War 

Brief  as  our  association  and  acquaintance  were, 
I  had  no  friend  whose  friendship  I  valued  more 
than  that  of  General  Prideaux.  He  was  the  soul 
of  honor  and  courtesy,  both  in  official  and  personal 
intercourse.  He  had  no  vanities  or  jealousies  or 
small  traits  whatsoever.  It  was  his  constant  custom 
to  spend  most  of  his  time  in  the  trenches  among 
the  soldiers — a  habit  indeed  to  which  his  untimely 
death  was  due.  He  was  as  popular  among  the  com 
mon  soldiers  and  as  much  beloved  by  them  as  by 
the  officers  who  had  the  honor  and  pleasure  of 
most  intimate  association  with  him.  By  his  death 
the  King  has  lost  one  of  the  brightest  ornaments 
of  his  service. 

After  the  surrender  of  Fort  Niagara,  Sir 
William  remained  there  about  two  weeks,  re 
pairing  fortifications  and  arranging  for  the 
comfort  of  the  sick  and  wounded,  both  of  his 
own  force  and  of  the  prisoners,  who  were  un 
able  to  be  taken  away.  Then  he  left  Colonel 
Farquhar  in  command  of  the  fort,  with  a  gar 
rison  of  700  men,  and  returned  by  the  lake 
to  Oswego,  where  he  arrived  on  the  7th  of 
August.  In  a  short  time  Brigadier-General 
Gage  of  the  regular  arrny  came  to  Oswego, 
and  as  he  ranked  Sir  William,  assumed  the 
command. 

Sir  William  used  to  say  that  no  incident 
of  this  campaign  was  more  gratifying  than 
193 


Sir  William  Johnson 

the  opportunity  it  gave  him  to  lead  a  consid 
erable  force  of  British  regulars  in  a  decisive 
action — a  privilege  that  no  Provincial  officer 
up  to  that  time  had  enjoyed.  This  was  due 
to  General  Amherst's  order  previously  noted. 
Under  the  conditions  that  formerly  prevailed, 
Colonel  Haviland  of  the  Forty-fourth  regu 
lars  would  have  succeeded  General  Prideaux, 
notwithstanding  that  Sir  William  Johnson 
was  a  major-general  on  the  Colonial  estab 
lishment. 

Various  schemes  were  at  once  set  on  foot 
for  the  reduction  of  posts  on  the  north  side 
of  Lake  Ontario,  and  at  the  head  of  the  St. 
Lawrence,  including  the  forts  of  la  Galette, 
Oswegatchie,  and  Frontenac.  For  some  rea 
son,  General  Gage  did  not  approve  these 
plans.  Some  time  later,  when  General  Am- 
herst  was  apprised  of  them,  and  informed 
that  Sir  William  had  vigorously  advocated 
the  movement,  he  coincided  with  him,  and 
criticized  the  inaction  of  Gage,  saying,  among 
other  things,  that  a  movement  of  that  kind, 
whether  successful  or  not,  must  have  ab 
sorbed  the  attention  of  a  considerable  part  of 
the  forces  which,  in  the  absence  of  such  at 
tack  from  the  head  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  were 
left  free  to  strengthen  the  hands  of  Montcalm 
at  Quebec.  However,  nothing  further  was 
194 


Services  in  Last  Part  of  the  War 

accomplished  on  the  lake  frontier  during  the 
rest  of  the  summer,  and  in  October  Sir  Will 
iam  disbanded  his  Indians  and  returned  to 
his  home  at  Mount  Johnson. 

It  is  not  within  the  scope  of  this  work  to 
describe  Wolfe's  campaign  against  Quebec, 
except  in  the  most  general  terms.  In  fact,  it 
hardly  needs  a  new  description,  because  few 
actions  in  modern  warfare  have  been  more 
widely  chronicled,  more  thoroughly  analyzed, 
or  more  permanently  committed  to  fame  than 
that.  Hardly  ever  was  there  so  dramatic  a 
battle ;  hardly  ever  have  such  momentous  con 
sequences  hung  upon  the  issue  of  one.  Every 
thing  about  it  was  dramatic.  The  stealthy 
scaling  of  the  steep  declivities  up  to  the 
plateau  of  Abraham  by  Wolfe  and  his  sol 
diers,  under  cover  of  night  and  fog ;  the  sur 
prise  and  almost  dismay  of  Montcalm  when 
the  rising  sun  disclosed  that  his  adversary 
had  outwitted  him ;  then  the  desperate  effort 
of  the  French  to  retrieve  their  fortunes ;  the 
steady,  indomitable  tenacity  with  which  the 
English  held  their  advantage;  the  final  rout 
of  the  French;  the  mortal  wounding  of  both 
commanders,  and  the  last  words  of  each; 
Wolfe  saying,  when  his  aide-de-camp  told  him 
that  the  French  were  fleeing:  "I  am  now  con 
tent  to  die  " ;  Montcalm,  when  told  by  his  sur- 
195 


Sir  William  Johnson 

geon  that  he  had  but  a  few  hours  to  live,  and 
hearing  the  tramp  of  his  beaten  and  retreat 
ing  troops  through  the  streets  of  Quebec:  "I 
am  glad  of  it,  for  I  shall  not  live  to  witness 
the  surrender  of  Quebec."  All  these  episodes 
have  made  the  battle  of  Quebec  not  merely 
a  theme  for  history,  but  an  inspiration  of 
poetry  as  well. 

The  forces  that  Wolfe  deployed  on  the 
plateau  of  Abraham  were  about  5,600  strong 
— all  regulars;  one  regiment,  however,  the 
"Royal  American  Regiment  of  Foot,"  of  which 
the  first  battalion  formed  part  of  Wolfe's 
army,  though  in  all  respects  borne  on  the 
Regular  Establishment,  was  wholly  recruited 
and  mostly  officered  from  the  colonies — the 
only  natives  of  Great  Britain  serving  in  it 
being  the  lieutenant-colonel  in  command,  a 
major,  two  captains,  and  the  surgeon.  So  far 
as  is  known,  every  enlisted  man  in  it  was  of 
colonial  birth  or  citizenship. 

Montcalm's  force  consisted  of  about  3,500 
French  regulars  and  2,000  to  2,500  Canadian 
militia.  The  loss  of  the  British  army  has 
been  estimated  variously  at  from  800  to  1,000 
men  killed  and  wounded.  The  French  loss 
was  never  reported.  Montcalm's  army  was, 
however,  practically  dispersed.  The  surviv 
ing  regulars  made  their  way  to  Montreal,  and 
196 


Services  in  Last  Part  of  the  War 

the  militia,  for  the  most  part,  disbanded  and 
went  to  their  homes. 

With  the  fall  of  Quebec  on  the  one  hand, 
and  Fort  Niagara  on  the  other,  together  with 
the  expulsion  of  the  French  garrisons  from 
Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point,  the  power  and 
dominion  of  France  in  Canada  was  now  nar 
rowed  down  to  the  remnants  of  different 
forces  which  assembled  at  Montreal  under 
command  of  the  Governor-General,  the  Mar 
quis  de  Vaudreuil.  The  season,  however, 
was  too  far  advanced  for  any  further  opera 
tions  in  the  latitude  and  climate  of  Canada. 
General  Amherst  therefore  put  all  his  regular 
forces  in  winter  quarters,  and  furloughed  his 
Provincials,  that  they  might  spend  the  winter 
at  their  homes.  In  the  meantime  he  laid  his 
plans  for  an  attack  upon  Montreal  as  soon  as 
spring  should  open  in  1760,  with  the  entire 
disposable  British  force  in  the  northern  col 
onies. 

Nothing  of  particular  note  occurred  dur 
ing  the  winter.  In  his  plan  of  campaign, 
General  Amherst  projected  a  simultaneous 
attack  on  Montreal  from  three  points.  Gen 
eral  Murray  was  to  come  up  the  St.  Lawrence 
from  Quebec.  Colonel  Haviland,  in  command 
of  the  force  which  garrisoned  Ticonderoga 
and  Crown  Point  during  the  winter,  was  to 
197 


Sir  William  Johnson 

move  down  Lake  Champlain  and  the  Kiche- 
lieu  River — reducing  Isle  aux  Noix  on  his  way 
— and  then  march  across  the  country  to  Mon 
treal;  while  General  Amherst  was  to  assem 
ble  the  main  army  at  Oswego  and  move  across 
Lake  Ontario  to  the  head  of  the  St.  Lawrence, 
reducing  the  forts  at  la  Galette  and  Oswe- 
gatchie,  and  thence  to  descend  the  St.  Law 
rence  to  Montreal.  The  troops  under  com 
mand  of  General  Stanwix,  forming  the  De 
partment  of  the  Ohio,  were  recalled,  and  the 
garrisons  of  the  smaller  forts  in  the  colony 
of  New  York  were  all  brought  together  and 
made  part  of  General  Amherst' s  grand  army 
at  Oswego.  He  was  detained  somewhat 
longer  than  he  had  contemplated,  mainly  by 
the  slowness  with  which  the  Provincial  troops 
reassembled.  "The  colonial  troops,"  he  wrote 
Sir  William  Johnson,  "come  in  slow.  ...  I 
hope  you  will  do  everything  in  your  power 
to  hasten  their  arrival." 

Sir  William  explained  in  reply  that  the 
delay  was  greatly  due  to  the  drought  which 
prevailed  that  spring,  by  which  the  waters  of 
the  Mohawk  and  Oneida  rivers  became  so  low 
that  navigation  upon  them,  which  was  neces 
sary  for  the  transportation  of  stores,  was 
greatly  retarded  and  almost  suspended. 
However,  all  arrangements  for  the  campaign 
198 


Services  in   Last   Part  of  the  War 

were  completed  by  the  12th  of  June,  and  Gen 
eral  Amherst  proceeded  to  Oswego,  where  an 
army  of  6,000  Provincials  and  4,000  British 
regulars  was  assembled.  On  July  25th  Sir 
William  Johnson  joined  him  with  650  war 
riors,  and  the  day  before  the  expedition  sailed 
it  was  further  increased  by  700  Senecas  and 
Cayugas,  with  whom  was  a  considerable 
number — perhaps  200 — of  Oswegatchie  and 
Caughnawaga  Iroquois,  who  had  previously 
been  under  the  influence  of  the  French.  This 
made  the  whole  number  of  Indians  under  the 
command  of  Sir  William  Johnson,  1,350 — the 
largest  force  of  that  race  ever  assembled  on 
this  continent  up  to  that  time.1  General  Am- 

1  In  this  campaign  Sir  William  had  his  Indians  organized 
in  what  might  be  called  a  "brigade"  of  two  "regiments." 
One  "regiment"  was  composed  of  the  eastern  Iroquois — 
Onondagas,  Mohawks,  Oneidas,  Tuscaroras,  and  "River  Indi 
ans  " ;  the  other  of  the  Senecas  and  Cayugas,  or  western  Iro 
quois.  The  "eastern  regiment"  was  something  over  600 
strong  and  commanded  by  the  elder  Brant  (Nicklaus).  The 
"western  regiment"  was  700  strong  and  commanded  by  the 
redoubtable  Hi-o-ka-to,  with  Captain  Montour  and  Young 
Cornplanter  in  command  of  its  two  wings.  Sir  William  said 
that  Hi-o-ka-to's  command  of  western  Iroquois  was  the  finest 
body  of  men  in  the  physical  sense  that  he  ever  saw  assembled. 
"What  a  pity  it  is,"  he  wrote  to  General  Amherst,  "that 
these  magnificent  Indians  could  not  have  seen  the  right  war 
path  for  their  interests  earlier  in  the  struggle ! " 

An  interesting  episode  of  this  campaign  was  that  John 
Johnson,  then  eighteen  years  old,  accompanied  his  father's 

199 


Sir  William  Johnson 

herst  sent  Colonel  Haldimand  with  a  command 
of  a  thousand  men  to  clear  the  head  of  the  St. 
Lawrence  of  any  obstructions  that  might  im 
pede  safe  navigation,  and  on  the  10th  of 
August  embarked  from  Oswego  with  his 
whole  army.  La  Galette  and  Oswegatchie 
were  reduced  without  serious  resistance, 
although  la  Galette,  which  was  defended  by 
Fort  Levi,  a  regular  fortification,  held  out 
until  the  25th  of  August,  when  the  comman 
dant,  Pouchet,  surrendered  at  discretion.  He 
was  the  same  officer  whom  Sir  William  John 
son  had  captured  the  year  before  at  Fort 
Niagara,  and  who  had  been  exchanged. 
When  Fort  Levi  surrendered  the  Indians 
found  in  the  deserted  huts  of  the  enemy  a  few 

division  as  a  lieutenant  of  Provincials,  while  Joseph  Brant, 
also  eighteen  years  old,  served  under  his  father  Nicklaus  as 
captain  of  the  Mohawk  Indian  company  of  Canajoharie  Castle. 
General  Amherst's  main  army  as  it  sailed  from  Oswego 
was  in  three  divisions,  each  about  4,000  strong.  The  first, 
composed  mainly  of  regulars,  was  commanded  by  General 
Gage;  the  second,  composed  of  a  battalion  of  regulars  and 
the  New  England  Provincials,  was  commanded  by  Colonel 
Haldimand;  and  the  third,  composed  of  all  the  New  York 
Provincials  and  all  the  Indians,  was  under  the  command  of 
Sir  William  Johnson.  Captain  John  Stark's  Rangers,  in  two 
companies,  were  attached  to  Sir  William's  headquarters  and 
reported  directly  to  the  commander  of  the  division.  Though 
the  Indians  had  been  organized  in  companies  in  the  Niagara 
campaign  the  year  previous,  this  was  the  first  time  they  had 
ever  been  "brigaded"  or  subjected  to  regular  discipline. 
•  200 


K1XG   HENDRICK   AND  SIR   WILLIAM  JOHNSON. 

Bronze  statue  at  the  State  Park,  Lake  George. 


OFTHE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


Services  in  Last  Part  of  the  War 

Mohawk  scalps,  and  raising  the  war-whoop 
or  scalp-yell,  desired  at  once  to  commence  a 
general  massacre. 

Sir  William  immediately  suppressed  this 
outbreak  in  a  most  peremptory  fashion, 
threatening  that  if  the  Indians  persisted  in 
their  purpose,  he  would  instantly  ask  General 
Amherst  to  back  him  up  with  a  strong  force 
of  British  regulars  and  Provincials,  and  the 
fierce  intentions  of  his  warriors  were  thor 
oughly  quelled  before  they  had  done  any 
damage.  This  was  the  first  and  last  time  he 
ever  had  occasion  to  resort  to  drastic  disci 
pline  in  handling  his  Indians. 

On  the  31st  of  August  General  Amherst 
again  embarked  his  army,  and  proceeded  care 
fully  down  the  St.  Lawrence  Eiver  reconnoi- 
tering  at  every  step  of  his  progress,  and  af 
fording  the  enemy  no  opportunity  for  a  sur 
prise.  The  boats  passed  the  rapids  of  the  St. 
Lawrence  above  Montreal,  though  not  with 
out  some  casualties.  Several  boats  were 
crushed  against  the  rocks  and  46  men  were 
drowned.  On  the  6th  of  September  Am- 
herst's  army  arrived  within  sight  of  the 
church  spires  of  Montreal,  and  so  well  had  his 
plans  been  concerted  and  matured,  that,  sin 
gular  as  it  may  seem.  General  Murray,  on 
the  same  day,  approached  it  in  the  other 
14  201 


Sir  William  Johnson 

direction  from  Quebec.  The  next  day  Colonel 
Haviland  also  joined  the  main  army  with  his 
division  from  Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point. 
General  Amherst  now  completely  surrounded 
the  city  and  sent  a  message  to  the  Marquis 
de  Vaudreuil,  informing  him  of  the  exact 
strength  of  his  army,  which,  after  the  junc 
tion  of  the  three  forces,  his  own,  Murray's, 
and  Haviland's,  was  over  18,000  strong,  ex 
clusive  of  Sir  William  Johnson's  Indians.  He 
assured  the  French  Governor-General  that  his 
most  ardent  desire  was  to  prevent  useless 
shedding  of  blood,  that  he  knew  exactly  the 
force  under  the  Governor-General's  command 
and  the  elements  of  which  it  was  composed, 
and  stated  them  in  his  letter  with  an  exact 
ness  that  startled  the  marquis. 

So  far  as  his  own  force  was  concerned,  as 
a  proof  of  his  good  faith,  he  invited  the  mar 
quis,  if  he  so  desired,  to  come  to  his  camp  and 
review  it  himself.  Coming  from  some  men, 
this  sort  of  thing  might  have  been  classed  as 
bravado,  but  in  the  case  of  Sir  Jeffrey  Am 
herst  it  was  nothing  more  than  the  prompt 
ings  of  his  absolute  integrity  and  his  perfect 
sense  of  honor.  General  Amherst  sent  his  first 
communication  to  the  Governor-General  late 
in  the  afternoon  of  September  6th.  Early  in 
the  morning  of  the  7th  de  Vaudreuil  replied, 
202 


Services  in   Last  Part  of  the  War 

assenting  in  the  main  to  the  propositions  the 
General  had  advanced,  but  requesting  two 
days  for  deliberation  and  consultation  with 
his  subordinate  officers.  This  General  Am- 
herst  cheerfully  granted,  but  the  Governor- 
General  did  not  consume  the  whole  of  the  time 
given  him.  At  noon,  the  8th  of  September, 
he  sent  a  letter  to  the  British  commander 
incorporating  the  terms  of  a  capitulation  that 
he  was  willing  to  sign.  This  capitulation 
provided  that  the  French  troops  then  under 
arms  in  Montreal  should  be  permitted  to 
march  out  with  the  honors  of  war,  retaining 
their  colors  and  personal  effects;  that  their 
arms  should  be  stacked  in  their  quarters  and 
not  laid  down;  that  they  should  not  be  held 
as  prisoners  of  war,  but  should  be  paroled 
until  such  time  as  they  could  be  transported 
to  France;  that  within  a  reasonable  time  all 
other  French  prisoners  of  war  held  by  the 
British  should  be  released  and  allowed  to 
return  to  France;  that  all  British  prisoners 
of  war  held  by  the  French  should  be  immedi 
ately  given  up;  that  all  captives  held  by  the 
Indians  hitherto  in  alliance  with  either  party 
should,  as  far  as  practicable,  be  returned 
to  their  homes  on  both  sides ;  that  private 
property  of  every  kind  should  be  respected, 
and  that  the  British  commander  should  take 
203 


Sir  William  Johnson 

the  responsibility  of  maintaining  order  in  the 
city  and  its  environs. 

To  these  terms  General  Amherst  added 
the  stipulation  that  Canada,  with  all  her 
dependencies,  should  be  surrendered  to  the 
Crown  of  Great  Britain,  and  all  claims  of 
France  to  dominion  over  any  part  of  Canada 
or  her  dependencies  should  cease.  Upon  the 
exchange  of  these  terms,  an  interview  was  im 
mediately  arranged  between  General  Amherst 
and  the  Marquis  de  Vaudreuil.  In  this  inter 
view  General  Amherst  was  supported  by  Gen 
eral  Murray,  Sir  William  Johnson,  General 
Gage,  and  Colonel  Haviland.  The  Governor- 
General  by  only  a  single  aide-de-camp.  There 
was  litt'le  discussion  in  this  interview.  Sir 
Jeffrey  Amherst  and  the  Governor-General 
passed  the  usual  formalities  of  politeness, 
and  then  General  Amherst  handed  to  the  mar 
quis  his  response  to  the  letter  embodying  the 
proposed  terms  of  capitulation.  He  agreed 
to  all  of  them,  but  said  that  it  would  be  neces 
sary  to  get  up  some  method  of  distinguishing 
public  from  private  property,  concerning 
which  the  Governor-General  had  made  no  sug 
gestion.  To  this  the  marquis  agreed,  and  a 
commission  was  appointed,  consisting  of  Sir 
William  Johnson  and  General  Gage  on  the 
British  side,  and  Colonel  Levi  and  another 
204 


Services  in  Last  Part  of  the  War 

officer  on  the  French  side.  Little  difficulty, 
however,  was  experienced  in  arriving  at  the 
desired  distinction.  Arrangements  also  had 
to  be  made  for  provisioning  the  troops 
forming  the  French  garrison.  When  all 
these  preliminaries  were  settled,  de  Vau- 
dreuil  sadly  led  his  dejected  and  dilapidated 
forces  out  of  Montreal,  and  the  town  was 
occupied  by  a  British  garrison  under  Gen 
eral  Gage.  General  Murray  was  sent  back 
the  day  after  the  completion  of  the  capitu 
lation  to  Quebec  with  4,000  men  as  a  gar 
rison. 

When  the  town  was  about  to  be  occupied 
by  the  British  forces,  General  Amherst  wrote- 
a  note  to  Sir  William  Johnson  requesting  him 
to  take  the  greatest  pains  to  restrain  his  Indi 
ans  from  any  excesses  that  they  might  be  dis 
posed  to  commit.  Sir  William's  characteris 
tic  response,  much  appreciated  by  Amherst, 
and  which  he  was  afterward  fond  of  relating 
as  a  good  joke,  was  as  follows : 

CAMP  BEFORE  MONTREAL,  September  9tli,  1760, 
MY  DEAR  GENERAL:  Replying  to  your  note  of 
this  date,  I  take  pleasure  in  saying  that  I  shall  not 
only  cheerfully  hold  myself  personally  responsible 
for  the  behavior  of  every  one  of  my  Indians,  but  if 
you  desire  it,  I  will  detail  a  suitable  detachment  of 
my  Senecas  to  act  as  provost  guard  in  the  town ! 
205 


Sir  William  Johnson 

When  we  consider  that  the  Senecas  were 
notoriously  the  worst  Indians  Sir  William 
had,  the  humor  of  this  proposition  will  be 
apparent.  History  does  not  record  that  Gen 
eral  Amherst  accepted  the  generous  proposi 
tion. 

On  the  12th  of  September  General  Am 
herst  left  Montreal  for  New  York,  and  the 
next  day  Sir  William  embarked  with  his  1,300 
Indians  in  bateaux,  in  which  they  returned 
by  easy  stages  to  Oswego,  where  they  were 
disbanded. 

During  this  campaign,  the  same  as  during 
the  Fort  Niagara  expedition,  the  Indians  in 
service  received  the  same  pay  and  allowances 
as  the  Provincial  troops.  When  disbanded 
at  Oswego  they  were  paid  off,  loaded  with 
presents,  each  Indian  receiving,  among  other 
things,  a  new  blanket  taken  from  the  French 
public  stores  captured  at  Montreal.  This 
event  practically  terminated  the  old  French 
War,  and  brought  the  entire  continent  of 
North  America  east  of  the  Mississippi  River 
and,  generally  speaking,  north  of  the  vast  ter 
ritory  subsequently  included  in  what  is  known 
as  the  Louisiana  Purchase,  under  British 
rule. 

The  French  still  occupied  Detroit,  Mack 
inaw,  St.  Mary's  (Sault  Ste.  Marie),  and  one 
206 


Services   in   Last  Part  of  the  War 

or  two  other  small  forts  in  the  country  of  the 
upper  lakes. 

Major  Rogers,  commander  of  the  Inde 
pendent  Battalion  of  Scouts,  which  bears  his 
name,  together  with  his  second  in  command, 
Captain  John  Stark,  were  sent  with  a  suitable 
escort  to  notify  the  garrisons  of  these  posts 
of  the  situation.  They  took  with  them  certi 
fied  copies  of  the  capitulation  signed  by  the 
Governor-General,  also  the  orders  of  the  Brit 
ish  commander  for  the  temporary  regulation 
of  affairs  at  those  posts  until  a  permanent 
government  should  be  established.  This  duty 
was  accomplished  without  difficulty  worthy  of 
note.1 

General  Amherst  went  to  New  York, 
where  he  was  received  with  all  possible  pub 
lic  demonstrations  of  joy,  and  all  the  honors 
due  to  his  achievement  were  bestowed  upon 
him.  He  was  afterward  raised  to  the  peer 
age  in  England  under  title  of  his  own  name  as 
Baron  Amherst. 

1  When  near  Detroit  Rogers  and  Stark  were  met  by  Pon- 
tiac,  who  demanded  to  know  why  they  entered  his  country 
with  an  armed  force.  He  had  already  been  apprised  by  Indian 
runners  of  the  capitulation  at  Montreal,  but  said  that  de  Vau- 
dreuil  had  no  right  to  surrender  him!  After  some  parley, 
however,  Pontiac  was  appeased  and  Rogers  and  Stark  went 
on  to  Detroit,  which  was  at  once  surrendered  by  its  comman 
dant,  d' Aubrey. 

207 


Sir  William  Johnson 

Sir  William  Johnson,  after  disbanding 
and  paying  off  his  Indians  at  Oswego,  re 
turned  to  his  home  at  Mount  Johnson,  his 
military  career  now  being  at  an  end. 

General  Amherst,  however,  did  not  con 
sider  the  work  complete,  and  as  soon  as  the 
demonstrations  in  his  honor  at  New  York 
were  over,  he  immediately  planned  a  cam 
paign  to  begin  at  once  against  the  French 
settlements  in  Louisiana.  To  this  end, 
knowing  that  the  climate  in  that  region  would 
be  unfavorable  for  the  operations  of  British 
or  Northern  Provincials  before  the  month  of 
January,  he  proposed  to  sail  from  New  York 
about  the  1st  of  December  with  a  fleet  of  20 
sail  of  the  line  and  a  force  of  about  6,000 
British  regulars.  At  the  same  time  he  pro 
posed  that  an  expedition,  composed  of  Pro 
vincial  troops  from  New  York,  Pennsylvania, 
and  Virginia,  should  rendezvous  at  Fort  Pitt, 
at  the  head  of  the  Ohio,  and  before  the  close 
of  navigation  proceed  down  the  Ohio  and 
Mississippi  rivers.  This  force,  he  thought, 
ought  to  be  at  least  4,000  strong,  and  he  pro 
posed  that  it  should  be  placed  under  the  com 
mand  of  Sir  William  Johnson. 

This  project,  however,  was  not  carried  out. 
Although  General  Amherst  was  commander- 
in-chief  of  all  the  forces,  and  practically  in 
208 


Services  in   Last  Part  of  the  War 

that  capacity  viceroy  of  all  the  North  Ameri 
can  colonies,  yet  his  advisers  in  New  York 
counseled  him  that  it  would  not  be  wise  to  un 
dertake  such  an  expedition  without  the  express 
consent  of  the  ministry,  in  view  of  the  fact 
that  during  the  whole  war  the  British  had 
made  no  attempt  whatever  upon  the  Louisiana 
colony,  and  that  colony  had,  so  far  as  any 
one  knew,  done  nothing  to  oppose  the  British 
arms.  General  Amherst  argued  that  it  would 
take  at  least  three  months  before  the  project 
could  be  laid  before  the  ministry,  considered 
by  them,  and  an  answer  returned.  By  that 
time,  he  said,  it  would  be  too  near  spring 
for  British  and  northern  Colonial  troops  to 
operate  safely  in  that  latitude  and  climate. 
Thereupon,  for  some  reason  that  never  has 
been  explained  in  history,  the  whole  project 
was  dropped.  France  was  allowed  to  retain 
her  sovereignty  over  Louisiana  until  a  day  or 
two  before  the  signing  of  the  definitive  treaty, 
when  she  ceded  all  of  her  possessions  known 
as  the  colony  of  Louisiana  to  the  Spanish 
Crown. 

While  the  subjugation  of  Canada  and  the 
expulsion  of  French  rule  gave  rest  to  the  offi 
cers  and  troops  who  had  been  so  arduously 
and  so  long  engaged  accomplishing  the  result, 
it  only  served  to  vastly  enlarge  the  sphere  of 
209 


Sir  William  Johnson 

Sir  William  Johnson's  duties  and  augment 
his  responsibilities  as  general  superintendent 
of  all  the  North  American  Indians.  Hereto 
fore  he  had  practically  only  the  Iroquois  to 
deal  with;  now  he  was  called  upon  to  pacify 
and  bring  into  compliance  with  the  terms 
of  the  new  situation  the  great  number  of  In 
dians  in  the  numerous  tribes  who  inhabited 
the  great  west  and  northwest,  and  who  had 
previously  been  wholly  under  French  influ 
ence.  He  foresaw  at  once  that  in  this  task  he 
must  encounter  at  the  outset  a  very  great  and 
embarrassing  difficulty.  He  foresaw  that  Eng 
lish  traders  would  undoubtedly  make  great 
efforts  to  get  control  of  the  Indian  trade  in 
those  regions,  and  that,  in  consequence,  trou 
bles  were  likely  to  arise  between  them  and 
the  French  traders,  who  had  so  long  controlled 
that  commerce,  and  doubtless  difficulties  with 
the  Indians  themselves  would  ensue. 

The  ink  was  hardly  dry  on  the  articles  of 
capitulation  of  Montreal  when  Sir  William 
went  to  New  York  to  consult  with  General  Am- 
herst  on  this  subject.  By  this  time  he  and 
the  general  had  become  the  closest  of  friends, 
each  confiding  absolutely  in  the  other's  judg 
ment,  and  each  taking  counsel  of  the  other  in 
every  great  emergency.  Sir  William  ex 
plained  to  the  general  that  in  his  judgment 
210 


Services  in   Last  Part  of  the  War 

the  best  policy  for  the  British  to  pursue  was 
to  let  the  French  residents  of  Canada  as  much 
alone  as  possible,  and  not  to  interfere  with 
their  trade  or  their  personal  relations  with 
the  Indians.  He  said  he  was  satisfied  that 
they  would  all  become  loyal  and  faithful  sub 
jects  of  the  king,  and  that  their  good-will 
should  be  sedulously  cultivated,  and  the  as 
sistance  of  their  influence  with  the  Indians 
freely  invoked.  He  also  held  that  it  would 
be  unwise  to  make  any  attempt  at  changing 
the  religious  influences  that  had  so  long  been 
exerted  over  the  Canadian  Indians.  He  ar 
gued  that  any  effort  to  interfere  with  the 
influence  of  the  Catholic  priests  would  create 
distrust  among  the  Indians,  whether  con 
verted  or  not.  On  the  whole,  he  told  General 
Amherst  that  he  believed  the  best  policy  for 
the  British  to  pursue  would  be — now  that  they 
possessed  the  governing  power  in  Canada— 
to  leave  all  other  conditions  as  nearly  in 
statu  quo  as  possible.  To  every  one  of  these 
propositions  General  Amherst  gave  hearty 
assent;  and  as,  in  view  of  the  practical  veto 
upon  his  proposed  invasion  of  Louisiana,  he 
intended  soon  to  sail  for  England,  he  prom 
ised  Sir  William  that  he  would  exhaust  his 
influence  with  the  ministry  and  the  king  to 
have  Sir  William's  ideas  carried  into  effect. 
211 


Sir  William  Johnson 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  add  that  the  policy 
pursued  by  the  British  Government  toward 
the  French  and  Indians  in  Canada,  from  that 
day  to  this,  has  been  based  practically  upon 
the  system  advocated  by  Sir  William  John 
son  in  January,  1761. 

Filled  as  he  always  was  with  a  profound 
sense  of  the  responsibilities  of  his  position, 
and  realizing  that  not  only  the  interests  of  his 
government,  but  that  the  comfort  and  well- 
being  of  the  Indians  depended  almost  wholly 
upon  the  management  of  their  affairs,  Sir 
William  lost  no  time  in  making  himself  ac 
quainted  with  the  nature  and  volume  of  the 
new  duties  which  the  change  of  rule  in  Canada 
had  brought  upon  him.  Early  in  the  spring 
of  1761,  in  fact,  immediately  after  his  return 
from  New  York  and  his  interview  with  Gen 
eral  Amherst,  previously  mentioned,  Sir  Will 
iam  sent  a  considerable  number  of  his  most 
trustworthy  Indian  runners,  mostly  Mohawks 
and  Oneidas,  with  some  Senecas,  to  travel  all 
through  the  country  of  the  Canadian  Indians, 
and  those  farther  west,  with  messages  and 
belts  of  peace-wampum,  inviting  them  to  send 
their  chiefs  and  delegates  to  meet  him  at  a 
grand  council,  which  he  proposed  to  hold  at 
Detroit  some  time  in  August  of  that  year.  He 
set  out  from  Fort  Johnson  for  Detroit  on  the 
212 


Services  in   Last  Part  of  the  War 

5th  of  July,  1761,  accompanied  by  his  son, 
John  Johnson — afterward  Sir  John — then  a 
youth  of  nineteen,  and  his  nephew,  Lieutenant 
Guy  Johnson.  During  this  journey  Sir  Will 
iam  kept  a  journal,  in  it  almost  daily  record 
ing  every  incident  worthy  of  historical  note 
that  occurred.  Among  the  pleasant  duties  he 
had  to  perform  at  the  outset  of  this  journey 
was  to  assemble  at  the  principal  castle  of  each 
tribe  all  the  Indians  who  had  accompanied 
General  Amherst's  expedition  to  Montreal, 
for  the  purpose  of  distributing  to  them 
medals  which  he  and  the  general  had  per 
suaded  the  Assembly  of  New  York  to  have 
struck  off  for  them.  Having  performed  this 
pleasant  duty,  which  consumed  several  days, 
and  having  attended  at  the  Seneca  capital  a 
grand  ceremonial  in  memory  of  the  Indians 
of  that  tribe  who  were  killed  in  the  battle  of 
Niagara  in  1759,  he  went  on  to  Niagara,  and 
from  there  to  Detroit.  The  necessary  limits 
of  this  volume  do  not  admit  of  any  extended 
extracts  from  his  extremely  interesting  jour 
nal.  By  way,  however,  of  exhibiting  the  fact 
that  in  the  midst  of  the  most  important  pub 
lic  duties  Sir  William  never  forgot  his  home 
or  domestic  responsibilities,  we  quote  one 
entry  dated  Wednesday,  October  21,  1761. 
The  following  is  the  exact  text : 
213 


Sir  William  Johnson 

Wednesday,  21st. — A  fine  morning,  a  warm  day. 
Embarked  at  eight  o'clock.  At  the  Three  River 
Rift  met  Sir  Robert  Davis  and  Captain  Ethering- 
ton,  who  gave  me  a  packet  of  letters  from  General 
Amherst,  and  a  copy  of  a  treaty  made  at  Easton  in 
August  by  Mr.  Hamilton,  of  Philadelphia,  with 
some  scattering  Indians  who  remained  about  that 
part  of  the  country — all  of  little  or  no  consequence. 
Encamped  in  the  evening  about  three  miles  above 
the  Three  Rivers.  Captain  Etherington  told  me 
Molly  was  delivered  of  a  girl — that  all  were  well  at 
my  house,  where  they  stayed  two  days. 

In  this  mission  to  Detroit  Sir  William  was 
exceedingly  successful;  in  fact,  as  he  states 
in  the  journal  from  which  we  have  just 
quoted,  he  was  suprised  at  the  alacrity  with 
which  the  western  and  northwestern  Indians 
accepted  the  new  state  of  affairs.  Arriving 
at  Detroit,  he  held  a  council,  or  rather  a  series 
of  councils,  lasting  eighteen  days.  He  did  not 
have,  nor  was  it  his  purpose  to  have,  all  the 
Indians  together  at  one  time.  He  preferred 
to  deal  with  them  tribe  by  tribe,  if  possible, 
or  at  any  rate  in  numbers  not  sufficient  to 
form  an  unwieldy  assemblage.  While  at  De 
troit  he  was  visited  by,  and  had  conferences 
with,  representatives  of  all  the  tribes  of  any 
importance  east  of  the  Mississippi  and  north 
of  the  Ohio.  He  had  no  trouble  with  any  of 
214 


Services  in   Last  Part  of  the  War 

them,  and  they  all  seemed  willing  to  meet  the 
British  at  least  half-way.  Some  of  them, 
notably  the  Ottawas  and  Hurons,  who  were 
well  aware  of  the  British  propensity  to  gain 
possession  of  the  lands  of  the  Indians,  and 
whose  location  in  Canada — that  is  to  say,  in 
that  rich  country  embraced  in  the  triangle 
formed  by  Lakes  Erie  and  Ontario  on  the 
south,  the  Ottawa  River  on  the  northeast,  and 
Lake  Huron,  Lake  St.  Glair,  the  Detroit  and 
St.  Clair  rivers  on  the  west — appeared  anx 
ious  on  that  subject,  and  pressed  Sir  William 
for  assurances  that  their  new  Great  Father, 
the  British  king,  who  had  so  recently  become 
their  guardian,  would  cause  his  people  to 
maintain  the  same  land  policy  toward  them 
that  had  been  for  nearly  two  hundred  years 
maintained  by  their  former  Great  Father,  the 
king  of  France.  Undoubtedly  these  were 
embarrassing  propositions  for  Sir  William, 
because  he  knew  what  the  British  land-hunger 
meant  for  the  Indians  as  well  as  the  Indians 
themselves  did.  He  admits  in  his  journal 
that  he  was  nonplussed  at  having  this,  which 
had  always  been  the  most  crucial  question 
in  the  Indian  policy  of  the  British,  thrust 
at  him  by  the  Ottawas  and  the  Hurons  on 
the  occasion  of  his  first  visit  to  them,  but 
he  does  not  enlighten  us  as  to  how  he  an- 
215 


Sir  William  Johnson 

swered  their  proposition,  or,  perhaps,  how  he 
evaded  it. 

While  at  Detroit,  Sir  William  employed  as 
interpreters  in  dealing  with  the  Hurons,  Otta- 
was,  Chippewas,  and  other  Canadian  tribes, 
the  Jesuit  Fathers  St.  Martin  and  Pottier. 
Father  St.  Martin  was  the  leading  Jesuit  of  his 
time.  He  was  the  author  of  the  History  of 
New  France,  referred  to  in  a  previous  chap 
ter,  though  it  had  not  been  printed  at  that 
time.  However,  Sir  William  knew  all  about 
his  rank  as  an  ecclesiastic  and  his  influence 
over  the  Indians — particularly  the  Ottawas, 
Hurons,  and  Chippewas.  Therefore,  the 
baronet  was  quite  attentive  to  Father  St.  Mar 
tin.  The  priest  was  at  that  time  over  sixty 
years  of  age,  and  had  passed  forty  years  of 
his  life  among  the  Indians.  In  1761  he  lived 
at  the  Old  Huron  Mission,  a  few  miles  from 
Detroit  on  the  shore  of  Lake  St.  Clair.  On 
the  17th  of  September  Sir  William  visited 
him  at  the  mission,  recording  the  event  in  his 
journal : 

Thursday,  17th. —  .  .  .  Arrived  at  the  Huron 
castle  soon  after  4  o'clock,  where  the  Indians 
were  drawn  up  and  saluted  me.  Encamped  here. 
Visited  the  Mission  Priest,  Pierre  Pottier.  Supped 
with  Saint  Martin,  the  famous  Jesuit,  M.  La  Bute, 
and  others.  Then  went  to  the  council  room  of  the 
216 


Services  in   Last  Part  of  the  War 

Hurons,  where  they  had  everything  in  good  order 
and  three  fires  burning.  .  .  . 

It  would  appear  that  Sir  William  ex 
hausted  his  powers  of  diplomacy  upon  the 
good  old  French  priest.  Father  St.  Martin 
had  made  up  his  mind  to  return  to  France  and 
pass  the  rest  of  his  life  there.  Sir  William 
besought  him  to  stay  in  Canada,  where  all  his 
life-work  had  heen  done,  and  to  use  his  vast 
influence  with  the  Indians  in  the  interests  of 
peace  under  the  new  regime.  The  priest  ex 
pressed  fear  of  interference  by  the  English 
conquerors  with  the  Catholic  institutions,  so 
long  established  among  the  Indians.  Sir  Will 
iam  persuaded  him  not  only  that  there  would 
be  no  such  interference,  but  that  it  would  be 
the  policy  of  the  English  to  sustain  the  priests 
in  their  efforts  to  Christianize  and  civilize  the 
Indians.  Finally,  Father  St.  Martin  agreed 
to  remain  in  Canada,  arid  he  was  afterward 
extremely  useful  under  the  British  rule. 
A  year  or  two  later  he  went  to  France  to  ar 
range  for  the  printing  of  his  book,  but 
returned  to  Canada  and  remained  there  until 
his  death,  some  twenty  years  later.  He  was 
the  last  of  the  school  of  Father  Marquette,  La 
Salle,  Joliet,  and  Hennepin. 

After  this  visit  to  the  Huron  mission,  Sir 
15  217 


Sir  William  Johnson 

.William  set  out  on  his  return  journey  the  20th 
of  September,  and  arrived  at  Mount  Johnson 
the  30th  of  October,  having  made  several 
stops  on  the  way  to  visit  various  forts  and 
Indian  villages.  Among  other  things  during 
this  trip,  the  baronet  regulated  the  number  of 
troops  to  be  maintained  in  the  several  garri 
sons  required  in  western  Canada,  the  total 
being  about  1,200  regular  troops.  He  also 
provided  for  a  force  of  Indian  or  half-breed 
runners  and  scouts,  to  be  employed  in  the  pay 
of  the  king  at  the  several  forts  and  trading- 
posts. 


218 


CHAPTER   V 

PONTIAC'S    WAR    AND    SIR    WILLIAM'S    ESTATE 
1761-1770 

AFTER  the  treaty — or  treaties — of  Detroit 
in  1761  the  Indians,  both  in  the  older  English 
colonies  and  the  newly  acquired  domain  of 
Canada,  remained  quiescent  for  two  years. 
In  view  of  the  vastly  increased  scope  of  his 
duties,  both  as  to  the  number  of  Indians  and 
as  to  the  extent  of  territory  to  be  dealt  with, 
Sir  William  found  it  necessary  to  operate  in 
all  ordinary  or  routine  affairs  through  depu 
ties.  He  already  had  one  deputy  superin 
tendent,  who  had  held  the  position  for  several 
years,  with  headquarters,  after  1758,  at  Fort 
Pitt,  and  having  charge  of  the  Indians  in  the 
Ohio  Valley.  He  now  appointed  two  more 
deputy  superintendents.  One  was  his  son-in- 
law,  Colonel  Daniel  Claus,  husband  of  his 
daughter  Nancy;  and  the  other  his  nephew, 
Colonel  Guy  Johnson,  who  was  soon  to  be 
married  to  his  daughter  Mary — both  by  his 
white  wife.  Croghan  remained  in  charge  of 
219 


Sir  William  Johnson 

the  Ohio  Indians,  with  headquarters  as  be 
fore,  at  Fort  Pitt.  Colonel  Glaus  was  placed 
in  charge  of  the  Canadian  Indians  west  of  the 
Ottawa  River,  with  headquarters  at  Detroit. 
Colonel  Guy  Johnson  took  charge  of  the  Iro- 
quois  and  the  Canadian  Indians  east  of  the 
Ottawa,  with  headquarters  at  Oswego.  This 
arrangement  relieved  the  baronet  of  all  minor 
details  of  Indian  administration,  leaving  him 
free  to  devote  his  time  to  questions  of  general 
policy  and  to  the  adjustment  of  differences 
among  the  Indians  themselves.  It  was  not 
easy  to  make  such  hereditary  enemies  as  the 
Iroquois  and  Algonquins  comprehend  the  idea 
of  living  in  peace  under  control  of  the  same 
superintendent.  Affairs,  however,  progressed 
without  much  jarring  until  1763. 

We  have  remarked  that  Sir  William  ac 
quired  in  1751  or  1752  a  large  tract  of  land, 
patented  to  himself  uand  others  "  in  1753  as 
the  "Kingsboro  Patent,"  and  located  a  little 
distance  north  from  the  Mohawk  Eiver,  in 
the  region  round  about  the  present  city  of 
Johnstown,  N.  Y.  Among  the  "  others  "  men 
tioned  as  parties  in  this  tract  was  Arent 
Stevens,  a  widely  celebrated  Indian  trader 
and  interpreter.  Sir  William  gradually 
bought  out  his  associates,  one  by  one,  until 
the  entire  tract  came  into  his  possession.  It 
220 


Pontiac's  War 

embraced  about  26,000  acres.1  From  time  to 
time  he  made  substantial  improvements  on 
this  tract,  clearing  considerable  areas,  build 
ing  sawmills  and  a  grist-mill,  and  settling 
upon  it  a  considerable  colony  of  tenants, 
mostly  Scotch-Irish  and  Highland  emigrants. 

About  1760  or  1761  it  had  become  more 
valuable  and  important  than  his  smaller 
estate  at  Mount  Johnson,  and  he  decided  to 
remove  to  it.  During  the  years  1761-62  he 
built  a  manor-house  on  this  estate,  to  which 
he  gave  the  name  of  "Johnson  Hall."  It  is 
still  standing,  near  the  present  city  of  Johns 
town — which  he,  at  the  same  time,  founded. 

In  the  early  spring  of  1763  the  new  manor- 
house  was  completed,  and  Sir  William  moved 
into  it,  leaving  Mount  Johnson  and  the  estate 
connected  with  it  in  possession  of  his  eldest 
son  and  heir — afterward  Sir  John  Johnson — 
then  just  arrived  at  the  age  of  twenty-one. 
Johnson  Hall  was — and  is — a  large,  commo 
dious  mansion,  and  at  that  time  the  most  im 
posing  edifice  west  of  the  Hudson  Eiver.  It 
consisted  of  a  main  building  of  wood,  weather- 


1  The  total  area  was  much  more  than  26,000  acres.  But 
many  settlers  were  already  within  its  boundaries,  having  built 
houses  and  cleared  farms.  They  had  no  valid  titles,  but  Sir 
William  gave  them  deeds  for  nominal  consideration  and  did 
not  disturb  any  of  them. 

221 


Sir  William  Johnson 

boarded  in  a  fashion  to  resemble  blocks  of 
hewn  stone — much  like  Washington's  resi 
dence  at  Mount  Vernon.  It  had  two  wing- 
buildings  in  the  same  style  of  architecture, 
though  smaller  and  built  of  stone. 

Sir  William  had  by  this  time  accumulated 
a  large  family.  It  consisted  of  his  two 
daughters  by  Katharine  Weisenburg — Nancy 
and  Mary — then  about  twenty-two  and  twenty 
years  old,  respectively,  the  former  recently 
wedded  to  Colonel  Daniel  Glaus,  and  the 
latter  soon  to  be  married  to  his  nephew, 
Colonel  Guy  Johnson.  Besides  these — his 
children  born  in  wedlock — there  were  Char 
lotte  and  Caroline  Johnson,  his  half-breed 
daughters  by  Caroline  Hendrick,  these  about 
fourteen  and  eleven  years  of  age,  respectively, 
and  the  five  little  half-breeds  that  Molly  Brant 
had  borne  to  him  in  the  nine  years  of  their 
life  together.  The  sixth  of  Molly  Brant's 
children,  a  girl  named  Mary,  was  born  at 
Johnson  Hall,  not  long  after  its  occupation 
by  the  family.  Sir  William's  half-breed  son 
by  Caroline  Hendrick,  young  William  John 
son,  did  not  make  his  home  at  the  mansion, 
but  lived  at  Canajoharie,  part  of  the  time  with 
his  grandfather,  the  sachem  Abraham,  and 
part  of  the  time  with  his  uncle,  "Little  Abe." 
However,  at  this  particular  time,  young  Will- 
222 


Pontiac's  War 

iam  Johnson  was  attending  Dr.  Wheelock's 
Academy  at  Lebanon,  Conn.,  along  with  his 
cousin,  Joseph  Brant,  who  graduated  in  the 
spring  of  that  year.1 

It  was  at  his  new  residence  of  Johnson 
Hall  that  Sir  William  received  the  first  inti 
mations  of  Pontiac's  conspiracy  in  the  sum 
mer  of  1763.  He  was  not  apprised  of  it  until 
just  before  the  storm  burst.  This  was  the 
first  time  in  his  twenty  years'  experience  in 
dealing  with  the  Indians  that  the  baronet  had 
been  taken  off  his  guard.  The  secrecy  with 
which  Pontiac's  plot  had  been  hatched,  con 
sidering  its  vast  extent  and  thorough  organi 
zation,  was  marvelous.  For  more  than  a  year 
its  arrangements  had  been  in  progress,  car- 

1  Joseph  Brant  used  to  relate  with  much  relish  an  anecdote 
of  his  high-spirited  young  half-breed  cousin,  who  was  seven 
or  eight  years  his  junior.  Young  Kalph  Wheelock,  the  rev 
erend  doctor's  son,  had  a  saddle  pony,  and  one  day,  thinking 
to  make  young  William  Johnson  "fag"  for  him,  ordered  the 
half-breed  boy  to  go  and  saddle  up  the  pony  and  bring  it 
around  to  the  door.  "I  won't  do  it,"  said  young  Johnson. 
"A  gentleman's  son,  as  I  am,  does  not  perform  menial  serv 
ice  for  the  sons  of  common  people ! " 

"  What  is  a  gentleman  ?  "  inquired  young  Wheelock  rather 
superciliously. 

"A  gentleman,"  quickly  responded  the  young  half-breed, 
"  is  a  man  who  lives  in  a  big  mansion,  has  a  great  lot  of  land, 
keeps  race  horses,  and  drinks  Madeira  wine  at  his  dinner — 
and  your  father  doesn't  do  a  single  one  of  those  things  I " 

Young  Wheelock  saddled  the  pony  himself. 

223 


Sir  William  Johnson 

ried  out  among  many  tribes,  and  covering  a 
vast  territory;  yet,  with  all  Sir  William's 
elaborate  system  of  information  through  his 
scouts,  traders,  and  runners,  the  first  out 
break  took  him  completely  by  surprise.  This 
outbreak  was  the  attack  on  Detroit,  the  best 
fortified  post  west  of  Niagara. 

It  was  garrisoned  by  two  companies  of 
British  regulars,  having  128  men  and  8 
officers,  of  Gage's  light  infantry.  The  first 
effort  of  Pontiac  was  to  take  it  by  stratagem, 
which  was  frustrated  by  the  vigilance  of 
Major  Gladwyn,  the  commandant.  The  major 
had  a  pretty  Chippewa  half-breed  girl  as 
housekeeper  and  companion,  and  she,  over 
hearing  the  conversations  of  the  Indians  in 
their  own  tongue,  discovered  their  intentions 
and  informed  her  protector  just  in  the  nick 
of  time.  Gladwyn  at  once  took  precautions, 
refused  to  admit  the  Indians  inside  the  stock 
ade,  and  on  the  7th  of  May,  when  they  tried  to 
force  their  way  in,  killed  two  of  their  chiefs 
with  his  own  pistols  right  in  front  of  the  main 
gate. 

Pontiac,  observing  that  his  plot  was  de 
tected,  then  settled  down  to  a  close  siege, 
which  was  maintained,  with  many  vicissi 
tudes,  until  November  15,  when  the  Indians, 
worn  out,  dejected,  and  discouraged,  not  only 
224 


Pontiac's  War 

abandoned  the  siege,  but  sued  for  peace. 
Pontiac,  deserted  by  Ms  warriors,  sullenly 
returned  almost  alone  to  his  village,  declaring 
his  intention  to  try  it  again. 

Almost  simultaneously  with  the  attack  on 
Detroit  a  large  force  of  Ohio  Indians — Shaw- 
nees,  Wyandots,  Miamis,  Delawares,  and  Min- 
goes — invested  Fort  Pitt.  The  garrison  at 
this  post  was  four  companies  of  the  Eoyal 
Americans,  and  the  real  commandant  was 
Major  George  Croghan,  Deputy  Superintend 
ent  of  Indian  Affairs.  As  soon  as  tidings  of 
the  attack  reached  the  settlements  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  east  of  the  mountains,  General  Am- 
herst  sent  Colonel  Bouquet,  with  500  regulars, 
mostly  Highlanders,  to  raise  the  siege.  Dur 
ing  his  march  Bouquet  was  joined  by  280  or 
300  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia  frontiersmen. 
Among  these  was  a  company  of  about  fifty, 
from  the  upper  Potomac  and  Shenandoah  val 
leys,  who  came  up  the  Cumberland  Valley  and 
joined  the  expedition  at  Carlisle — or  where 
that  town  is  now.  There  was  nothing  par 
ticularly  remarkable  about  these  fifty  Vir 
ginia  backwoodsmen,  except  that  their  cap 
tain  was  a  man  of  the  name  of  Daniel  Mor 
gan! 

They  were  nearly  all  hunters  and  trap 
pers  ;  men  from  whom  the  Indians  themselves 
225 


Sir  William  Johnson 

could  learn  lessons  in  woodcraft  and  the  art 
of  bush-fighting. 

The  5th  of  August,  1763,  when  Bouquet's 
force  was  within  a  few  miles  of  the  fort,  the 
savages  laid  an  ambuscade  for  him  at  a  place 
called  Bushy  Run,  on  a  plan  much  similar  to 
the  ambush  into  which  Braddock  had  marched 
eight  years  before.  But  Bouquet  was  not 
Braddock.  Apprised  of  this  ambuscade  by 
some  of  his  Pennsylvania  backwoodsmen, 
whom  he  kept  in  advance  as  scouts,  he  was  not 
taken  by  surprise.  The  scout  who  first  dis 
covered  and  reported  the  presence  of  the  In 
dians  in  force  was  Lewis  Wetzel,  then  a  youth 
hardly  twenty  years  old,  but  who  subse 
quently  became  one  of  the  most  bloodthirsty 
and  successful  "Indian-killers "  known  to 
American  history.  A  most  desperate  battle 
ensued,  resulting  in  the  total  rout  of  the  sav 
ages,  who  lost  over  300  out  of  about  700.  The 
loss  of  Bouquet's  force  was  8  officers  and  115 
enlisted  men  killed  or  wounded,  nearly  one- 
third  of  the  latter  mortally.  Bouquet  then 
marched  without  further  opposition  to  the 
fort,  the  besieging  Indians  fleeing  down  the 
river  in  their  canoes. 

Several  attempts  against  Fort  Niagara 
were  made  by  a  force  mainly  composed  of 
renegade  Senecas,  with  some  Ottawas  and 
226 


Pontiac's  War 

Ohio  Indians.  They  surprised  and  massa 
cred  two  or  three  small  parties  in  the  neigh 
borhood  of  the  fort,  but  did  not  attempt  to 
besiege  it.  While  these  events  were  in  prog 
ress  the  Indians  attacked,  with  more  success, 
the  smaller  and  slenderly  garrisoned  posts  of 
Lebceuf,  Venango,  Presque  Isle,  St.  Joseph, 
Maumee,  Mackinaw,  Sandusky,  and  St. 
Mary's,  butchering  their  unfortunate  garri 
sons  almost  to  a  man. 

However,  before  the  end  of  1763  the  main 
force  of  Pontiac's  rebellion  was  crushed,  and 
though  spasmodic  outbreaks  occurred  for  a 
year  afterward,  it  never  again  assumed  for 
midable  proportions.  General  Amherst  was 
disposed  to  deal  in  a  conciliatory  spirit  with 
the  Canadian  Indians.  But  he  was  bitter 
ly  incensed  at  the  conduct  of  the  Senecas, 
and  informed  Sir  William,  in  the  winter 
of  1763-64,  that  it  was  his  intention  in  the 
early  spring  to  take  a  force  of  regulars 
and  Provincials — which  he  proposed  to  com 
mand  in  person — and,  as  he  expressed  it, 
"wipe  forever  from  the  face  of  the  earth 
that  faithless,  cruel  tribe,  who  have  already 
too  long  debauched  the  good  name  of  the 
Iroquois  Confederacy  by  pretending  to  be 
long  to  it!" 

In  a  memoir  of  Lord  Amherst,  published 
227 


Sir  William  Johnson 

anonymously  in  London  in  1798,  about  a  year 
'after  his  death,  appears  the  following : 


General  Amherst  objected  to  any  fur 
ther  negotiation  with  the  Senecas.  They  were,  he 
said,  destitute  of  honor,  faithless,  treacherous,  and 
a  race  of  natural-born  criminals  and  murderers. 
They  cumbered  the  ground.  He  could  make  no  use 
of  them  but  exterminate  them  as  a  warning  example 
to  all  other  Indians.  He  at  once  formulated  a  gen 
eral  order  for  concentration  of  all  the  British  forces 
in  North  America  against  the  Seneca  nation.  He 
called  for  10,000  militia  to  be  furnished  by  Massa 
chusetts,  New  Hampshire,  Connecticut,  New  York, 
Pennsylvania,  and  Virginia  in  appropriate  quotas. 
Of  the  11,000  British  regulars  then  in  the  colonial 
garrisons  he  ordered  6,500  to  take  the  field.  He 
also  directed  that  the  services  of  friendly  Indians, 
if  proffered,  should  be  declined,  as  this  was  to  be 
purely  a  white  man's  war!  He  proposed  to  move 
against  the  Senecas  in  four  columns.  General  Bou 
quet  with  the  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia  militia 
and  the  700  regulars  in  the  Ohio  District — alto 
gether  about  3,500  strong — was  to  move  from  Fort 
Pitt  up  'the  Allegheny  River  and  French  Creek  to 
attack  from  the  southwest.  General  Haldimand 
was  to  assemble  at  Fort  Niagara  .a  force  of  3,000 
regulars  drawn  from  the  Canadian  garrisons  and 
assail  the  Western  Senecas.  Sir  William  Johnson, 
with  the  New  York  and  Connecticut  militia  and  500 
regulars — altogether  about  3,500  strong — was  to 
228 


Pontiac's  War 

move  down  the  Susquehanna  and  up  the  Chemung 
against  the  southeastern  towns.  While  General 
Amherst  in  person,  with  the  Massachusetts  and  New 
Hampshire  militia  and  2,500  regulars,  forming  a 
force  of  about  6,000,  was  to  invade  the  Seneca  coun 
try  from  the  east  by  way  of  the  Mohawk  Valley  and 
Onondaga.  "  No  male  Seneca  capable  of  bearing 
arms  will  be  spared,"  he  said.  "  The  women  and 
children  will  be  taken  prisoners  and  afterward  dis 
tributed  among  the  other  tribes.  The  Seneca  nation 
as  an  organized  tribe  must  disappear !  Every  habi 
tation  in  the  Seneca  country  will  be  razed  to  the 
ground.  Their  crops  will  be  destroyed  and  their 
live  stock  killed  or  driven  off.  It  is  my  intention  to 
destroy  the  tribe  and  completely  desolate  their 
country.  After  that  is  done  their  lands  will  escheat 
to  the  Crown  and  will  at  once  be  opened  to  white 
settlement. ' ' 

That  General  Amherst  was  able  to  accomplish 
his  purpose  is  beyond  question.  The  force  he  pro 
posed  to  mobilize  was  about  16,000.  The  total  pop 
ulation  of  the  Seneca  nation  was  not  more  than 
10,000  or  11,000,  and  they  could  not,  even  by  levy 
en  masse,  muster  over  1,500  fighting  men.  In  fact, 
any  two  of  his  proposed  four  columns  of  invasion 
could  have  crushed  the  tribe.  That  the  Senecas 
merited  condign  punishment  for  their  perfidy  and 
cruelty  is  quite  clea.r.  But  that  they  deserved  the 
dire  fate  General  Amherst  threatened  to  visit  upon 
them  is  not  so  apparent. 

There  is,  however,  circumstantial  evidence  that 

229 


Sir  William  Johnson 

the  commander-in-chief  did  not  intend  to  be  as 
savage  as  his  word.  No  militia  was  actually  em 
bodied  except  the  Mohawk  regiment  under  Colonel 
Glaus  and  three  independent  companies  of  Scho- 
harie  and  the  Susquehanna.  The  only  movement  of 
regulars  was  a  transfer  of  the  second  battalion,  Six 
tieth  Royal  American  Foot,  about  800  strong,  from 
the  garrison  of  Quebec  to  Oswego.  Moreover,  the 
tenor  of  General  Amherst's  orders  was,  by  some 
mysterious  agency,  made  known  in  the  Seneca  vil 
lages  almost  as  soon  as  at  the  colonial  capitals.  .  .  . 
If,  as  seems  plausible,  it  was  a  threat  on  a  grand 
scale,  the  effect  was  all  that  could  have  been  desired, 
because  the  Senecas  abjectly  sued  for  mercy  and 
peace  and  never  again  made  any  trouble. 

Sir  William  vigorously  opposed  this  pol 
icy.  He  declared  that  what  the  Senecas  had 
done  was  not  their  act  as  a  tribe,  but  the  inde 
pendent,  unauthorized,  and  much-regretted 
action  of  their  bad  or  misguided  young  men. 
The  Senecas,  on  their  part,  hearing  of  Gen 
eral  Amherst's  project,  sued  in  the  most 
abject  manner  for  peace,  and  promised  to 
deliver  up  the  prime  instigators  of  the  de 
fection  among  them.  Upon  this,  Amherst 
relented.  They  gave  up  to  him  nineteen  of 
the  " instigators,"  and  after  hanging  two  of 
the  worst  of  them  at  Onondaga  Castle,  by 
way  of  an  "object-lesson,"  the  general  aban- 
230 


Pontiac's  War 

doned  his  declared  intention  of  "extermina 
ting  the  tribe  " ! 

"In  all  my  long  and  happy  acquaintance 
with  him,"  says  Sir  William  in  his  journal, 
"this  was  the  first  time  I  ever  saw  General 
Amherst  display  real  anger.  But  on  this  oc 
casion  he  was  thoroughly  roused,  and  all  his 
usual  placidity  of  temper  seemed  to  have  van 
ished.  In  truth,  it  was  with  difficulty  at  first 
I  could  induce  him  to  listen  to  my  expostula 
tions." 

The  hanging  of  the  two  sub-chiefs  of  the 
Senecas  by  General  Amherst  at  Onondaga 
Castle  was  the  first  exhibition  the  Indians  had 
seen  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  mode  of  punishing 
murderers.  In  order  to  make  the  spectacle 
more  impressive,  the  general  ordered  the 
bodies  of  the  culprits  to  be  sunk  in  Onondaga 
Lake  with  stones  tied  about  their  necks,  as 
food  for  the  fishes.  And  he  forbade  any 
mourning  or  other  funereal  rites  for  them  in 
the  tribe,  threatening  to  hang  any  one  who 
should  attempt  to  offer  any  rites  to  their 
memory.  The  fact  is  that,  but  for  Sir  Will 
iam's  intercession,  Amherst  would  have 
hanged  the  whole  nineteen  renegades  who 
were  delivered  up  to  him.  As  it  was,  he  took 
the  other  seventeen  to  New  York  and  kept 
them  in  jail  there  until  every  vestige  of  Pon- 
231 


Sir  William  Johnson 

tiac's  conspiracy  had  disappeared.  They 
were  not  released  until  Pontiac  himself  form 
ally  surrendered  in  1766.  During  their  two 
years  of  imprisonment  eight  out  of  the  seven 
teen  died.  The  fates  of  these  renegades 
cowed  the  Senecas  for  all  time. 

It  was,  perhaps,  fortunate  for  the  restora 
tion  of  tranquillity  between  the  white  people 
and  the  Senecas,  that  General  Amherst  was 
appointed  Governor  of  Virgina  at  the  end  of 
1763,  and  left  the  New  York  frontier  in  the 
spring  of  1764  to  take  up  his  new  duties 
shortly  after  the  events  just  noted.  His  de 
parture  left  Sir  William  Johnson  in  complete 
control  of  the  situation,  and  he  soon  succeeded 
in  bringing  the  Senecas  to  a  status  of  perfect 
obedience  and  amity.  However,  the  un 
wonted  spectacle  of  publicly  hanging  two  of 
their  chiefs  on  the  same  gallows  was  a  lesson 
that  sank  deep  into  their  memories.  To  them 
it  was  an  infinitely  severer  punishment  than 
even  burning  at  the  stake.  "  That  way  of  kill 
ing  a  warrior  with  a  rope,"  they  said,  "chokes 
him  so  he  can  not  sing  his  death-song.  He  can 
sing  his  death-song  at  the  stake,  but  not  when 
he  is  being  choked  to  death  by  a  rope !  " 

As  we  have  remarked,  Pontiac  himself  did 
not  surrender  until  1766,  nearly  three  years 
after  the  outbreak  of  his  plot,  and  two  years 
232 


Pontiac's  War 

after  its  complete  suppression.  Finally, 
after  much  negotiation  and  correspondence, 
Pontiac  agreed  to  meet  Sir  William  at  Oswego 
to  smoke  the  great  calumet  of  peace  and 
pledge  his  fealty  to  the  King  of  England.  On 
the  23d  of  July,  1766,  the  great  chief  and  Sir 
William  met  face  to  face  at  Oswego.  Stone 
gives  a  striking  description  of  their  meeting : 

As  it  was  now  the  warmest  of  summer  weather, 
the  council  was  held  in  the  open  air,  protected 
from,  the  rays  of  the  sun  by  an  awning  of  ever 
greens.  .  .  .  At  one  end  of  the  leafy  canopy  the 
manly  form  of  the  Superintendent,  wrapped  in  his 
scarlet  blanket  bordered  with  gold  lace,  and  sur 
rounded  by  the  glittering  uniforms  of  British  offi 
cers,  was  seen  with  hand  extended  in  welcome  to 
the  great  Ottawa,  who,  standing  erect  in  conscious 
power,  his  rich  plumes  waving  over  the  circle  of  his 
warriors,  accepted  the  proffered  hand  with  an  air 
in  which  defiance  and  respect  were  singularly 
blended.  Around,  stretched  at  length  upon  the 
grass,  lay  the  proud  chiefs  of  the  Six  Nations, 
gazing  with  curious  eyes  upon  the  man  who  had 
come  hundreds  of  miles  to  smoke  the  calumet  with 
their  beloved  Superintendent. 

From  Oswego  Sir  William  went  to  Niag 
ara,  where  he  held  a  grand  council  with  dele 
gates  from  all  the  western  and  Ohio  tribes 
that  had  been  implicated  in  Pontiac's  con- 
16  233 


Sir  William  Johnson 

spiracy.  He  was  detained  at  Niagara  for 
some  time  by  delay  in  arrival  of  delegates 
from  the  tribes  farthest  west,  and  he  says  that 
he  "took  advantage  of  this  waiting-spell  to  in 
dulge  in  his  favorite  sport  of  gunning  for  wild 
fowl  which,  at  this  time  of  the  year,  swarm 
upon  the  waters  of  the  river,  bay,  and  lake." 

Finally,  in  September,  Sir  William  re 
turned  to  his  home  at  Johnson  Hall. 

The  events  just  related  practically  ended 
his  direct  personal  attention  to  Indian  affairs. 
The  treaties  he  made  at  Oswego  and  Niagara 
included  every  Indian  tribe  hitherto  under 
French  dominion  or  influence,  together  with 
the  Ohio  tribes — Shawnees,  Wyandots,  Mia- 
mis,  Mingoes,  Delawares,  and  the  remnant  of 
the  Piquas  or  Piankeshaws.  Most  of  the 
southern  Indians  were  also  represented  at  the 
Niagara  council;  Cherokees  from  western 
North  Carolina  and  northern  Georgia ;  Chick- 
as  aws  from  what  is  now  middle  and  northern 
Alabama;  Yemassees  from  the  uplands  of 
South  Carolina ;  Catawbas  from  northwestern 
North  Carolina  and  the  southern  part  of  what 
is  now  West  Virginia.  No  delegates  were 
present  from  the  Creeks  of  southern  and  mid 
dle  Alabama  and  Georgia,  or  from  the  Choc- 
taws  and  the  Natches  of  what  is  now  Missis 
sippi.  Some  of  these  latter  tribes,  notably 
234 


Pontiac's  War 

the  Creeks  and  Choctaws,  were  still  tinder  the 
Spanish  and  French  influence,  yet  dominant 
in  Florida  and  Louisiana.  But,  on  the  whole, 
the  era  beginning  with  the  surrender  of  Pon- 
tiac  was  one  of  peace  between  the  two  races 
that  lasted  until  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolu 
tion. 

The  deputy-superintendent  system  worked 
well.  To  the  three  deputies  already  in  office 
— Croghan,  Glaus  and  Guy  Johnson — Sir 
.William  now  added  a  fourth  in  the  person  of 
Colonel  Thomas  Polk,  of  Mecklenburg,  N.  C., 
who  assumed  charge  of  the  southern  tribes, 
with  headquarters  where  the  city  of  Augusta, 
Ga.,  now  stands. 

From  this  time  on  the  baronet  retained 
under  personal  supervision  only  his  faithful 
Mohawks,  Oneidas,  Oghwagas,  and  Tusca- 
roras.  But  these  had  almost  ceased  to  be 
Indians.  Most  of  them  could  speak  English, 
and  many  of  them  could  read  and  write.  The 
Mohawks,  now  thoroughly  intermingled  with 
the  white  population  of  the  valley  that  bears 
their  name,  had  farms  which  they  cultivated 
as  thriftily  as  their  white  neighbors.  In  some 
what  less  degree  the  same  was  true  of  the  Onei 
das.  The  Oghwagas  and  Tuscaroras  in  the 
Susquehanna  Valley,  from  the  Unadilla  to 
Chenango  Point,  and  in  the  Great  Bend,  had 
235 


Sir  William  Johnson 

many  fertile  clearings,  orchards,  and  com 
fortable  log-cabins.  In  these  tribes  the  sys 
tem  of  landholding  was  similar  to  that  of  the 
white  people.  Each  Indian  farmer  owned 
and  cultivated  his  separate  farm.  The  west 
ern  Iroquois — Onondagas,  Cayugas,  and  Sen- 
ecas — had  a  good  deal  of  land  cleared  and 
under  cultivation,  with  numerous  orchards, 
and  for  the  most  part  lived  in  cabins  made  of 
logs,  or  wattles  plastered  with  clay  and  roofed 
with  bark.  But  these  tribes  still  adhered  to 
the  ancient  usage  and  cultivated  their  lands 
in  common.  All  were  tranquil  and  appar 
ently  contented.  Sir  William  had  little  to  do 
in  the  official  way  but  keep  in  touch  with  his 
deputies  and  watch  the  fruition  of  the  work 
to  which  he  had  so  long  given  his  energies, 
and  which  he  had  conducted  with  such  marvel 
ous  skill,  patience,  and  courage.  He  now  had 
under  his  control,  or  within  the  scope  of  his 
official  authority,  nearly  two  hundred  thou 
sand  Indians. 

The  state  of  civilized  comfort  which  the 
Iroquois  had  reached  in  the  eighteenth  cen 
tury,  though  often  described,  is  hardly  real 
ized  by  modern  readers.  In  1765,  after  the 
suppression  of  Pontiac,  the  British  Govern 
ment  determined  to  make  a  road  practicable 
for  artillery  and  all  kinds  of  wagon  or  sleigh 
236 


Pontiac's  War 

traffic  from  the  upper  Mohawk  to  Fort  Niag 
ara.  Sir  William  Johnson,  being  directed  to 
make  this  road,  organized  a  surveying  party 
to  lay  out  its  route.  The  party  consisted 
of  Simon  Metcalf,  Philip  Burlingame,  Ezra 
Buell,  James  Ogden,  and  Sir  William's  half- 
breed  son,  William  Johnson,  who,  having 
"graduated "  at  Dr.  Wheelock's  Lebanon 
Academy,  had  decided  to  learn  the  art  of  sur 
veying.  In  his  Narrative,  Ezra  Buell  de 
scribes  several  of  the  towns  through  which 
they  passed.  We  select  his  description  of  the 
"Old  Castle  Town,"  at  the  foot  of  Seneca 
Lake,  near  the  present  site  of  Geneva,  N.  Y. ; 

Here,  he  says,  is  a  clearing  about  two  miles 
long  and  more  than  a  mile  wide,  bounded  on  the 
southeast  by  the  lake  shore.  In  the  midst  of  it, 
about  60  rods  from  the  lake,  is  the  Old  Castle,  a 
strong  log  building,  with  a  parapet  around  the  roof 
well  loopholed  for  musketry  and  the  whole  sur 
rounded  by  a  substantial  log  stockade.  There  is  a 
spring  inside  the  stockade  and  the  whole  structure 
will  shelter  a  garrison  of  at  least  300  to  350  men. 
From  the  Old  Castle  in  both  directions,  east  and 
west,  is  a  broad  street,  I  would  say  a  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  wide.  On  both  sides  of  this  thoroughfare 
are  built,  at  distances  of  one  or  two  hundred  feet 
from  each  other,  one-story  log  houses,  having  fire 
places  with  chimneys  made  mostly  of  wattles  filled 
in  with  clay,  though  some  are  of  stonework.  In 
237 


Sir  William  Johnson 

many  of  the  fireplaces  I  noticed  swinging  cranes  to 
hang  kettles  on,  the  same  as  in  white  people 's  houses. 
They  have  plenty  of  cooking  utensils — kettles,  spi 
ders,  skillets,  Dutch  ovens,  and  roasting-spits.  In 
some  houses  the  floors  are  of  hard-beaten  clay;  in 
others  of  puncheons  (split  logs),  neatly  fitted  and 
smoothed  off,  and  deer  and  elk  skins,  tanned  with 
the  hair  on,  are  made  to  serve  as  carpets.  The 
houses  are  built  one  room  wide  and  in  lengths  ac 
cording  to  the  needs  of  the  family.  Some  of  them 
are  four  rooms  in  length,  the  rooms  being  generally 
from  12  to  14  feet  square.  The  fireplace  is  usually 
in  the  middle  room. 

The  cleared  land  is  tilled  in  common,  each  fam 
ily  getting  its  share  of  the  whole  product.  The 
crops  are  corn,  pumpkins,  melons,  apples,  pears, 
peaches,  beans,  and  lately  they  raise  some  pota 
toes  and  turnips.  They  have  a  good  many  horses 
and  a  few  cattle.  But  cattle  need  too  much 
care  and  feeding  in  winter  to  suit  the  Indians. 
Besides,  they  have  plenty  of  wild  meat,  and  as  they 
do  not  wish  for  milk,  they  have  little  need  of  cattle. 
In  the  village  are  72  inhabited  houses  besides  six 
log  huts,  roofed  over,  used  as  storehouses  for  corn 
and  other  provisions  for  winter.  The  total  number 
of  inhabitants  is  427,  of  whom  about  50  are  half- 
breeds. 

An  important  article  of  food  with  them  is  fish, 
with  which  the  lake  and  Seneca  River  actually 
swarm — trout  of  several  varieties,  whitefish,  pike, 
pickerel,  and  many  other  species.  The  Indians 

238 


Pontiac's  War 

catch  them  mostly  by  spearing  in  the  night,  with  a 
light  at  the  bow  of  their  canoes,  which  attracts  the 
fish  to  the  surface.  They  use  a  three-pronged  spear 
and  are  very  expert  with  it.  These  fish  they  salt 
down  or  smoke — such  as  they  do  not  eat  fresh. 
They  get  salt  from  the  springs  at  Onondaga,  where 
they  go  two  or  three  times  a  year  to  make  it  by 
boiling  the  water  in  kettles  or  leaving  it  to  evaporate 
under  the  hot  sun  in  shallow  troughs.  Much  of  the 
timber  about  here  is  hard  maple,  from  which  they 
make  quantities  of  molasses  and  some  sugar  of  an 
inferior  kind.  They  make  cider  by  mashing  apples 
in  a  large  mortar  and  then  letting  the  pulp  or  pum 
ice  ferment  in  large  troughs  hollowed  out  of  logs. 
When  the  pulp  gets  soft  they  squeeze  out  the  juice. 
It  seems  to  agree  with  them,  but  our  party  suffered 
diarrhea  from  drinking  it.  ...  Altogether,  the 
Senecas  at  Old  Castle  live  as  well  as  most  of  the 
white  settlers  in  a  new  country.  But  I  could  see 
that  they  have  no  ambition  for  improvement  beyond 
a  certain  point,  as  white  settlers  have.  As  soon  as 
certain  creature  wants  are  satisfied  they  are  done. 
Here,  at  Old  Castle  Town,  they  appear  to  have 
reached  the  end  of  their  ambition  and  are  content. 
The  great  war-chief,  Cornplanter,  lives  here.  He 
is  the  half-breed  son  of  an  old  Indian  trader  by 
name  of  Abiel  and  a  Seneca  woman.  Cornplanter 's 
wife  is  a  white  woman,  young  and  neat.  He  does 
not  allow  her  to  work,  but  keeps  two  or  three  squaws 
to  be  servants  for  her.  He  is  a  fine,  stalwart  fel 
low,  very  sensible,  keeps  open  house  for  his  friends, 

239 


Sir  William  Johnson 

and  is  true  to  the  King  as  steel.  Here  also  resides 
the  famous  Council  Chief,  Kay-ag-sho-ta.  He  is 
reputed  the  best  orator  and  wisest  counselor  in  the 
Seneca  nation.  He  always  represents  them  in 
councils  and  conferences  with  the  Government  peo 
ple.  He  made  some  mistakes  at  the  beginning  of 
Pontiac's  war,  but  his  glib  tongue  has  got  him 
safely  out  of  them ! 

Three  families  of  white  people  live  here.  They 
are  the  agent  for  the  Eastern  Senecas,  Captain  Mc- 
Master,  his  wife  and  two  children;  the  licensed 
trader,  Mr.  Forman,  his  wife  and  three  children; 
and  the  gunsmith,  a  Switzer,  by  name  Drepard. 
The  gunsmith  is  the  most  important  personage  here. 
The  Indians  often  bring  their  broken  guns  a  hun 
dred  miles  to  have  him  repair  them.  They  have 
plenty  of  firearms.  Every  Indian  able  to  carry  a 
gun  has  one  and  some  have  two  or  three,  taken  from 
the  enemy  in  the  last  war.  A  few  of  them  have 
creased  rifles,  which  they  obtain  in  trading  expedi 
tions  down  the  Susquehanna,  whither  they  often  go 
as  far  as  Lancaster  in  Pennsylvania.  This  gun 
smith  was  put  here  by  Sir  William  Johnson  through 
agreement  with  the  Indians  in  1759.  His  wife  is  a 
handsome  young  half-breed  woman  and  they  have 
one  small  child.  .  .  . 

Most  of  the  Indians  here  dress  after  the  fashion 
of  white  people.  The  men  wear  blue  or  green 
hunting-shirts,  braided  and  fringed,  and  cloth  or 
deer-skin  leggings  and  moccasins.  They  are  fond 
of  the  uniform  coats  of  British  or  Provincial  sol- 

240 


Pontiac's  War 

diers.  They  do  not  wear  the  blanket  as  a  garment, 
as  wild  Indians  do,  except  in  very  cold  weather. 

The  women  wear  gaudy-colored  jackets,  pro 
fusely  braided  and  beaded,  and  flannel  petticoats 
reaching  a  little  below  the  knee,  with  leggings  of 
fawn-skin  and  moccasins.  .  .  . 

The  Post  is  half  a  mile  east  of  the  village  on 
the  lake  shore.  It  has  four  good-sized  log  houses 
of  two  stories  —  the  agent's  house,  the  trader's 
house,  the  trader's  store,  which  also  contains  the 
gunsmith's  shop,  and  the  gunsmith's  house — all 
surrounded  by  a  strong  palisade  of  logs  set  deep 
in  the  ground.  It  is  a  busy  place,  many  Indians 
from  distant  towns  being  always  here  to  trade,  or 
to  see  the  agent,  or  get  their  guns  mended. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  trader's  two  clerks 
are  both  young  Indians  educated  at  Canajoharie, 
one  a  half-breed,  the  other  a  full-blood. 

About  the  time  under  consideration  Sir 
William  made  a  report  to  the  Colonial  Office 
in  London,  giving  an  enumeration  of  all  the 
Indian  tribes  within  his  sphere  of  control  or 
influence.  This  was  in  detail  of  the  several 
tribes,  and  stated  only  the  number  of  able- 
bodied  men  in  each.  But  lie  explained  that 
the  grand  total  of  all  ages  and  sexes  could  be 
ascertained  by  considering  the  number  of  able- 
bodied  men  or  warriors  as  one  to  every  ten.1 

1  Not  all  of  the  able-bodied  men  in  any  Indian  tribe  were 
rated  as  warriors.     A  considerable  number  were  always  pro- 

241 


Sir  William  Johnson 

The  Six  Nations  and  eastern  Canadian  In 
dians  lie  estimated  at  3,960  warriors,  indica 
ting  a  population  of  about  40,000.  The  Ot 
tawa  Confederacy  at  3,800  warriors,  or  38,000 
total.  The  various  branches  of  the  Chippewa 
Nation  at  4,000  warriors,  or  40,000  in  all. 
The  southern  Indians — Cherokees,  Creeks, 
Choctaws,  Chickasaws,  etc.,  at  6,000  warriors, 
or  60,000  all  told.  All  other  remnants  of 
tribes,  about  1,000  able-bodied  men,  or  10,000 
total  population.  No  Indians  living  west  of 
the  Mississippi  were  included.  In  a  note  ap 
pended  to  this  estimate  Sir  William  said : 

West  of  the  Mississippi  and  north  of  the  Mis 
souri  rivers  are  many  large  tribes  subject  to  His 
Majesty's  government  by  the  territorial  terms  of 
the  Treaty  of  Paris  properly  construed.  But  I 
must  say  it  is  quite  evident  to  me  that  the  framers 
of  that  treaty  were  in  sore  need  of  a  scholar  in 
geography.  As  for  the  numbers  of  these  far-west 
ern  tribes,  I  can  get  no  accurate  information.  They 
have  been  visited  only  by  the  Jesuit  Brothers  and 
the  French  and  half-breed  voyageurs  and  coureurs 
des  bois,  none  of  whom  pays  much  attention  to  sta 
tistical  matters.  All  I  can  get  from  them  is  that 
many  tribes  inhabit  that  country,  and  some  of  them 

fessional  hunters,  and  these  never  took  the  war-path  in  dis 
tant  expeditions  ;  in  fact,  were  not  expected  to  fight  unless 
in  defense  of  their  villages.  On  an  average  the  professional 
hunters  were  about  one-fifth  of  the  able-bodied  males. 

242 


Pontiac's  War 

are  very  numerous.  The  Jesuit  Father,  St.  Martin, 
and  his  attendant,  Jacques  la  Bute,  whom  I  met 
at  Detroit  in  1761  and  who  interpreted  for  me 
there  with  the  Hurons,  0  jib  ways,  and  other  north 
western  nations,  had  been  as  far  to  the  northward 
and  westward  as  the  Mandan  country  a  few  years 
before.  They  believed  there  were  more  Indians 
west  of  the  Mississippi  than  east  of  it;  but  said 
they  were  exceedingly  primitive,  had  no  fire-arms, 
and  were  not  settled  in  more  or  less  permanent  vil 
lages  like  the  Indians  who  live  in  the  forest  coun 
try  to  the  eastward,  but  roamed  in  a  nomadic  fash 
ion  over  all  the  great  treeless  plains  in  that  region. 
They  declared  their  belief  that  these  far-western 
Indians  must  be  250,000  in  number. 

These  estimates  are  probably  the  source  of 
Professor  Donaldson's  calculation,  that  in  the 
third  quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century  there 
were  half  a  million  Indians  in  North  America, 
north  of  the  Rio  Grande  and  Gila  rivers. 

After  1766,  Sir  William's  life  was,  in  the 
main,  reposeful.  His  four  deputies  trans 
acted  the  business  of  their  respective  districts 
with  signal  ability  and  success.  In  1768  Colo 
nel  Polk  accomplished  the  hitherto  impossi 
ble  task  of  making  a  treaty  with  the  Creeks  ; 
a  transaction  with  which  Sir  William  had 
nothing  to  do,  except  approve  the  action  of  his 
subordinate  and  secure  the  royal  signature. 
243 


Sir  William  Johnson 

The  last  great  public  work  of  the  baronet's 
lifetime  was  completed  also  during  the  year 
1768.  That  was  the  ratification  of  a  definite 
boundary  between  the  territory  of  the  Six 
Nations  and  the  colony  of  New  York,  with  an 
actual  survey  and  delimitation — known  to 
history  as  the  "Fort  Stanwix  Treaty  Line." 
This  line  began  at  Wood  Creek,  near  Fort 
Stanwix,  ran  thence  southeast  to  the  Forks  of 
the  Unadilla  River;  then  followed  that  river 
to  its  confluence  with  the  Susquehanna;  then 
ran  due  south  to  the  present  site  of  Deposit, 
N.  Y. ;  thence  southeast  to  the  Pennsylvania 
line — which  was  the  Delaware  River;  thence 
west-northwest  to  the  Susquehanna  at  Owego ; 
thence  down  the  latter  river  to  the  mouth  of 
Towanda  Creek;  and  from  that  point  it  was 
projected  in  an  air  line  on  the  point  of  com 
pass  required  to  strike  the  confluence  of  the 
Allegheny  and  Monongahela  at  Fort  Pitt  or 
Pittsburg.  This  is  the  line  traced  on  the  map 
compiled  with  great  care  and  accuracy  by  the 
author  of  The  Old  New  York  Frontier,  Francis 
Whiting  Halsey.  It  corresponds  with  the 
field-notes  of  Ezra  Buell,  who  was  assistant  to 
the  chief  surveyor,  Simon  Metcalf.  But  Ezra 
says  in  his  narrative  that  "the  easterly  jog  in 
the  line  was  never  observed  by  the  whites  or 
insisted  on  by  the  Indians."  As  to  purchase 
244 


MAP  SHOWING 

FT.STANWIX  TREATY  LINE, 

NEGOTIATED  B* 

Sir  William  Johnson 

.       IN  1768. 
76 


Pontiac's  War 

of  lands,  and  actual  settlement,  he  says  the 
Susquehanna  River  formed  the  real  bound 
ary,  from  the  mouth  of  the  Unadilla  1  to  the 
mouth  of  Towanda  Creek.  "The  purpose  of 
the  easterly  jog  in  the  line,"  Buell  says,  "was 
to  include  the  Oghwaga  and  Tuscarora  vil 
lages  on  the  Susquehanna,  between  Cuna- 
hunta  (now  Oneonta)  and  Chugunut  (now 
Choconut),  within  the  Indian  domain.  But 
many  whites  were  already  there,  a  good  part 
of  them  married  to  or  living  with  Indian 
women,  and  the  Oghwagas  and  Tuscaroras 
freely  sold  their  lands  to  these  whites.  By 
1774  there  were  almost  as  many  whites  and 
half-breeds  in  this  valley  as  full-blood  In 
dians." 

With  the  Fort  Stanwix  treaty  and  the  run 
ning  of  the  boundary-line  consequent  upon  it, 
the  active  public  career  of  Sir  William  John 
son  in  the  broad  sense  practically  ended.  The 
rest  of  his  life  was  devoted  to  study,  cor 
respondence,  the  education  of  his  children, 
and  the  general  management  of  his  personal 

1  Ezra  Buell  spells  what  we  now  call  "Unadilla"  "Tian- 
anderha,"  which  was  really  the  nearest  equivalent  in  English 
letter  sounds  to  the  pronunciation  of  the  name  of  the  river  in 
the  Oneida  dialect  of  the  Iroquois  tongue.  Other  forms  of 
the  word  in  early  papers  are  Teyonadelhough,  Cheunadilla, 
and  Tunadilla,  the  latter  being  the  spelling  Joseph  Brant 
employed. 

245 


Sir  William  Johnson 

estate.  Occasionally  he  settled  disputed  ques 
tions  between  his  deputies  and  the  Indians 
within  their  jurisdiction;  but  such  disputes 
seldom  occurred. 

At  the  period  now  under  consideration 
(1769)  he  received  under  charter  from  the 
king  a  tract  of  land  known  as  the  "Royal 
Grant."  This  land  had  previously  been  con 
veyed  to  him  (in  1760)  by  the  Council  of  Mo 
hawk  Sachems  for  the  consideration  of  £3,000 
in  money  and  about  as  much  more  in  merchan 
dise.  But  the  grant  was  not  approved  by  the 
king  until  1769.  It  embraced  all  the  land  on 
the  north  bank  of  the  Mohawk  Eiver  between 
the  mouths  of  Cayadutta  (now  East  Canada) 
and  Canada  (now  West  Canada)  creeks.  Its 
total  area  was  something  over  100,000  acres, 
but  between  1760  and  1769  a  good  many  set 
tlers  had  cleared  and  improved  farms  within 
its  borders.  Sir  William  at  once  gave  quit 
claims  to  all  these,  at  the  rate  of  threepence  to 
a  shilling  per  acre,  according  to  the  value  of 
their  holdings  by  reason  of  location. 

When  all  these  deductions  were  made,  the 
"Kingsland  Grant"1  embraced  about  90,000 

1  Most  historians  of  this  epoch  adopt  the  legend  that  Sir 
William  obtained  this  grant  by  what  might  be  described  as  a 
"game  of  competitive  dreaming"  between  him  and  old  Hen- 
drick.  The  legend  was  that  Hendrick,  visiting  him  one  day 

246 


Pontiac's  War 

acres.  The  next  year  (1770)  Sir  William 
acquired  by  purchase  from  the  original  pat 
entees  under  Governor  Clinton,  whose  patents 
had  been  confirmed  by  the  king  in  1761,  a  tract 
embracing  the  valley  of  the  Susquehanna 
from  the  mouth  of  Charlotte  River  to  that  of 
the  Unadilla.  This  tract  was  twenty-three 
miles  long  by  four  miles  wide — two  miles  back 
from  the  river  on  each  side — and  embraced 
about  92  square  miles  or,  say,  58,000  acres. 
It  was  his  intention  to  settle  on  this  tract  a 
numerous  colony  of  Scotch-Irish  emigrants 
from  the  counties  Down,  Armagh,  and  An 
trim.  But  he  did  not  live  to  accomplish  his 
purpose.  The  acquisition  of  this  tract  made 
him  the  largest  landholder  in  America  and 
perhaps  in  the  world;  his  total  possessions 


when  he  had  on  the  uniform  of  a  British  major-general,  in 
formed  him  that  he  (Hendrick)  had  dreamed  the  night  before 
that  he  himself  was  clad  in  a  uniform  exactly  like  it.  Sir 
William,  the  legend  says,  gave  Hendrick  a  major-general's 
uniform.  Then,  visiting  Hendrick  a  day  or  two  afterward, 
he  told  the  chief  he  had  dreamed  that  the  Mohawks  gave  him 
a  tract  of  100,000  acres  of  land.  The  legend  further  recites 
that  Hendrick  gave  him  the  land,  but  said,  "Don't  let's  dream 
any  more  !  "  This  is  not  a  bad  story ;  but  the  fact  is  that  the 
tract  was  not  offered  to  Sir  William  by  the  Mohawk  Council 
until  1760.  Hendrick  was  killed  at  Lake  George  in  1755. 
The  alleged  "competitive  dreaming"  on  his  side  therefore 
must  have  been  done  by  his  ghost!  The  real  fact  is  that  the 
legend  was  a  pure  invention  from  beginning  to  end. 

n  247 


Sir  William  Johnson 

amounted  to  about  200,000  acres,  after  buying 
up  all  the  smaller  patents  embraced  within 
the  limits  of  the  Royal  Grant. 

Of  this  vast  area  all  except  the  Susque- 
hanna  tract  was  more  or  less  improved,  and 
the  Mount  Johnson  and  Johnstown  tracts 
were,  for  those  days  at  least,  thickly  settled. 
By  1770  the  village  of  Johnstown,  which  he 
founded  about  1760 — or  when  he  began  build 
ing  Johnson  Hall — had  grown  to  be  a  smart 
little  town  of  over  a  hundred  dwellings  and 
about  500  people,  with  several  stores,  black 
smith's,  gunsmith's,  and  carpenter's  shops,  a 
good-sized  flour-mill,  two  sawmills  and  a 
wagon-shop.  It  also  had  a  flourishing  manor- 
school,  and  an  Episcopal  chapel,  both  built 
wholly  by  the  baronet.  Two  years  later 
(1772),  when  Tryon  County  was  formed  from 
the  western  part  of  Albany  County,  Johns 
town  was  made  the  shire  town,  or  county-seat. 

In  1770  Mary  Brant  bore  to  Sir  William 
her  last  child.  It  was  the  ninth  in  seventeen 
years — 1754-1770  inclusive.  Eight  of  these 
lived,  and  one  died  quite  young.  The  baronet 
was  now  fifty-five,  and  Mary  Brant  thirty-six 
years  of  age.  Mary,  though  in  her  girlhood 
as  trim-built  and  supple  as  a  young  deer,  grew 
stout  and  matronly  in  her  later  years,  but  lost 
none  of  her  charms  of  manner  or  vivacity  of 
248 


Pontiac's  War 

spirit.  General  Scmiyler  was  a  guest  at 
Johnson  Hall  frequently  between  1768  and 
1774,  and  in  his  papers  he  says : 

Mary  Brant  was  a  most  accomplished  mistress 
of  such  an  establishment,  and  her  numerous  flock 
of  little  half-breed  Johnsons  forms  as  interesting 
a  family  as  one  can  see  anywhere.  They  attend 
the  Manor  school  at  Johnstown,  and  I  am  told 
they  are  among  the  smartest  of  the  pupils.  Sir 
William  is  exceedingly  proud  of  them,  and  loses 
no  opportunity  of  exhibiting  their  graces  and 
acquirements  to  his  guests.  He  intends  to  send 
his  two  half-breed  boys  to  the  new  King's  College 
in  New  York  [now  Columbia  University],  and  the 
girls  he  will  educate  as  they  grow  up  in  Mrs.  Par- 
dee 's  school  for  young  ladies  at  Albany. 

Among  the  last  public  enterprises  of  Sir 
William,  and  one  in  the  success  of  which  he 
found  much  satisfaction,  was  the  introduction 
of  the  manufacture  of  rifles  in  New  York. 
Prior  to  1768  Lancaster,  Pa.,  had  practically 
monopolized  the  making  of  rifles  in  this  coun 
try.  The  few  that  found  their  way  into  the 
hands  of  the  New  York  settlers  or  Indians  cost 
exorbitant  prices.  Sir  William's  experience 
had  taught  him  that  the  rifle,  either  for  hunt 
ing  or  for  war,  was  much  superior  to  the  light 
smoothbore  gun  he  himself  had  designed  for 
the  Indian  and  frontier  trade  twenty-five 
249 


Sir  William  Johnson 

years  before.  He  therefore  determined  to  do 
mesticate  rifle-making  in  the  Mohawk  Valley. 
But  none  of  the  gunsmiths  there  understood 
the  art  of  rifling,  and  they  were  unwilling  to 
undertake  it.  Not  to  be  balked,  Sir  William 
induced  several  skilled  rifle-makers  to  leave 
Lancaster  and  set  up  shops  in  New  York. 
Among  them  were  the  Palm  brothers,  Jacob 
and  Frederick,  who  established  their  shop  at 
Old  Esopus,  Ulster  County,  and  made  excel 
lent  rifles  there  for  many  years ;  Henry  Haw 
kins,  who  selected  Schenectady  for  his  place 
of  business,  and  John  Folleck,  whose  shop  was 
at  Johnstown.  Hawkins  was  not  only  a  great 
rifle-maker  himself,  but  his  sons  and  grand 
sons  succeeded  him  in  later  years,  establish 
ing  shops  at  Rochester,  Louisville,  Detroit, 
and  St.  Louis,  until,  during  the  last  quarter 
of  the  eighteenth  and  first  half  of  the  nine 
teenth  century,  the  "Hawkins  rifle  "  was  as 
famous  all  through  the  West  as  the  Win 
chester  is  now. 

Originally  Sir  William  induced  these  pio 
neers  of  rifle-making  to  locate  in  New  York 
by  advancing  money  for  the  building  of  their 
shops  and  purchase  of  tools  and  then  agree 
ing  to  take  at  a  fixed  price  all  their  product 
that  did  not  promptly  find  market  elsewhere. 
This  began  in  1769.  The  market  soon  became 
250 


Pontiac's  War 

brisk  and  other  rifle-makers  came  in.  By 
1775  most  of  the  settlers  on  the  New  York  fron 
tier  and  many  of  the  Indians  had  discarded 
their  old  smoothbores  for  the  new  rifles,  and 
though  the  industry  was  only  about  six  years 
old,  New  York  was  second  only  to  Pennsyl 
vania  in  the  manufacture  of  what  we  com 
monly  term  "the  national  American  weapon." 
The  author  of  this  work  has  a  Palm  rifle,  made 
in  1773,  in  perfect  preservation,  flint  lock,  and 
as  effective  now  as  it  was  when  it  left  the  shop. 
It  is  40  inches  long  in  the  barrel — which  is 
octagonal — 55  inches  over  all,  full-stocked 
with  curly-birch  root,  carries  45  spherical 
balls  to  the  pound  of  lead,  and  weighs  10J 
pounds.  It  saw  service  in  Morgan's  Riflemen 
and  was  in  the  battle  of  Oriskany. 

Sir  William's  success  in  starting  the  manu 
facture  of  rifles  in  New  York  was  as  complete 
as  in  his  other  undertakings,  and  was  due  to 
the  same  causes :  the  energy  which  he  always 
brought  to  bear  on  any  project  and  the  un 
stinted  freedom  with  which  he  was  willing  to 
spend  his  money  to  accomplish  his  object;  and 
in  this  respect  it  was  immaterial  to  him 
whether  the  object  was  the  public  welfare  or 
personal  profit. 


251 


CHAPTEE   VI 
SIR  WILLIAM'S  CHARACTER  AND  DEATH 

1769-1774 

AFTER  concluding  the  Fort  Stanwix  treaty 
and  supervising  the  running  of  the  boundary 
line,  which  was  completed  in  1769,  Sir  William 
passed  most  of  his  spare  time  in  reading,  and 
in  writing  papers  on  public  topics.  He  had 
accumulated  one  of  the  best  private  libraries 
in  the  colonies ;  having  begun  to  import  books 
from  England  as  early  as  1740,  or  as  soon  as 
he  had  means  of  his  own  to  afford  it.  At  the 
end  of  his  life  he  had  over  two  thousand  vol 
umes,  which  in  those  days  was  an  extraordi 
nary  private  collection. 

To  indicate  generally  the  character  of  his 
selections,  I  give  two  orders,  selected  at  ran 
dom  from  a  number.  These  orders  were  sent 
to  London  in  1749.  They  embraced  Sir  Isaac 
Newton's  complete  works;  Desagulier's 
Course  of  Experimental  Philosophy,  in  two 
volumes,  illustrated;  Chambers's  Dictionary, 
two  volumes ;  Battles  of  Alexander  the  Great, 
252 


Sir  William's  Character  and  Death 

by  LeBrun;  Ehoderick  Random;  the  Whole 
Proceedings  in  the  House  of  Peers  Against  the 
Three  Condemned  Lords;  Historical  Review 
of  Transactions  in  Europe  from  the  Com 
mencement  of  the  War  with  Spain ;  the  Gentle 
man's  Magazine;  the  Family  Magazine;  A' 
Large  Globe;  All  Recent  Pamphlets  on  Po 
litical  or  Scientific  Subjects;  Review  of  the 
Services  of  His  Majesty's  Navy  Since  the 
Accession  of  William  III ;  Life  of  the  Duke  of 
Marlborough,  3  volumes,  by  Ledyard;  Mili 
tary  History  of  Prince  Eugene  and  the  Duke 
of  Marlborough,  2  volumes,  by  Campbell ;  Life 
of  William  III,  translated  from  the  Dutch  of 
Montanus;  Life  and  Reign  of  King  William 
III,  by  Harris ;  History  of  France  Under  the 
Reign  of  Louis  XIV,  translated  from  the 
French  of  de  Larrey ;  Life  of  Louis  XIII,  by 
Howell;  Life  of  Queen  Anne,  by  Oldmixon; 
An  Account  of  the  Conduct  of  the  Duchess  of 
Marlborough,  by  Hooke ;  Life  of  Peter  the 
Great,  3  volumes,  by  Mottley;  Life  of  the 
Prophet  Mohammed  (in  Latin),  by  Gag- 
nier;  Translation  of  the  Koran  (in  Latin), 
with  Notes,  Anon. ;  and  lastly,  Pictures  of 
Some  of  the  Best  Running  Horses  at  New 
Market. 

Besides  such  special  orders,  from  time  to 
time,  he  had  a  standing  order  with  the  prin- 
253 


Sir  William  Johnson 

cipal  bookseller  in  London  to  send  to  him 
"all  new  books  on  History,  Philosophy,  and 
the  Lives  of  Men  Worth  Heading  About,"  as 
they  came  from  the  press. 

His  own  literary  ability  can  be  judged 
only  by  his  voluminous  correspondence.  As 
a  sample,  I  offer  some  extracts  from  a  long 
and  comprehensive  letter  written  by  him  to 
Arthur  Lee,  at  the  request  of  the  Royal  Philo 
sophical  Society,  under  date  of  February  28, 
1771: 

gIR .  JOHNSON  HALL,  Feb.  28,  1771. 

...  I  am  apprehensive  that  any  account  in 
my  power  respecting  inquiries  amongst  the  unlet 
tered  Indians  will  prove  inadequate  to  the  expecta 
tion  formed  in  your  letter;  for,  notwithstanding 
my  long  residence  in  this  country,  the  nature  of  my 
office  and  the  most  diligent  inquiries  into  these  vari 
ous  particulars,  I  find  all  researches  of  that  sort, 
for  which  I  shall  give  reasons  presently,  involved 
in  such  difficulty  and  uncertainty  as  to  afford  but 
slender  satisfaction — at  least  far  short  of  my 
inclination  to  gratify  your  desires  thereon.  How 
ever,  I  shall  endeavor  to  make  some  atonement  by 
giving  you  some  account  of  these  difficulties, 
together  with  such  other  hints  as,  from  the  motives 
of  enquiry  suggested  in  your  letter,  may,  I  flatter 
myself,  be  of  some  use  or  amusement  to  you. 

It  will  be  unnecessary  to  enlarge  on  the  want 
of  laws,  government,  letters,  or  such  other  particu- 
254 


Sir  William's  Character  and  Death 

lars  as  are  to  be  found  in  most  authors  who  have 
treated  of  the  American  Indians.  .  .  . 

I  must  therefore  observe  that  the  customs  and 
manners  of  the  Indians  are  in  several  cases  liable 
to  changes  which  have  not  been  thoroughly  con 
sidered  by  authors,  and  therefore  the  description 
of  them  at  our  particular  period  must  be  insuffi 
cient;  and  I  must  further  premise  that  I  mean  to 
confine  my  observations  to  those  of  the  Northern 
Nations,  with  whom  I  have  the  most  acquaintance 
and  intercourse. 

In  all  inquiries  of  this  sort  we  should  distin 
guish  between  the  most  remote  tribes  and  those 
Indians  who,  from  their  having  been  next  to  our 
settlements  several  years,  and  relying  wholly  on 
oral  tradition  for  the  support  of  their  ancient 
usages,  have  lost  a  great  part  of  them  and  have 
blended  some  customs  amongst  ourselves,  so  as  to 
render  it  extremely  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to 
trace  those  customs  to  their  origin  or  to  discover 
their  application.  Again  those  Indians  who  are  a 
degree  farther  removed  have  still  a  good  deal  of 
intercourse  with  our  traders,  and  having  altered 
their  system  of  politics,  though  they  still  retain 
many  ancient  customs,  they  are  much  at  loss  to 
account  for  them ;  whilst  those  who  are  far  removed 
from  any  intercourse  with  the  whites  (a  few  tra 
ders  excepted)  are  still  in  possession  of  the  greater 
part  of  their  primitive  usages.  Yet  these  cannot 
give  a  satisfactory  account  of  their  original  signifi 
cation  ;  and  having  so  blended  the  whole  with  fable 

255 


Sir  William  Johnson 

as  to  render  it  a  matter  of  great  difficulty  to  sepa 
rate  truth  from  it.  Add  to  this  that  above  a  cen 
tury  ago  they  had  French  Jesuits  among  them 
who,  partly  for  religious  purposes,  but  chiefly  to 
secure  particular  ends  in  the  wars  they  often 
fomented,  introduced  some  of  their  own  inventions 
which  the  present  generation  [of  Indians]  con 
found  with  their  ancient  ceremonies.  .  .  . 

With  respect  to  your  questions  concerning  the 
chief  magistrate  or  sachem  and  how  he  acquires 
his  authority,  I  am  to  acquaint  you  that  there  is 
in  every  nation  a  sachem  or  chief,  who  appears  to 
have  authority  over  the  rest  and  it  is  greatest 
amongst  the  most  distant  nations.  But  in  most  of 
those  bordering  upon  our  settlements,  the  chief's 
authority  is  hardly  discernible,  he  seldom  assuming 
any  power  before  his  people.  Indeed,  this  humility 
is  judged  the  best  policy;  for,  wanting  coercive 
power,  their  commands  would  perhaps  occasion 
assassination,  which  sometimes  happens. 

The  sachems  of  each  tribe  are  usually  chosen  in 
a  public  assembly  of  the  chiefs  and  warriors,  when 
a  vacancy  happens  by  death  or  otherwise.  They 
are  generally  chosen  for  their  sense  and  bravery 
from  among  the  oldest  warriors  and  approved  of 
by  all  the  tribe,  on  which  they  are  saluted  sachems. 
There  are,  however,  several  exceptions;  for  some 
families  have  a  kind  of  heredity  in  the  office,  and 
are  called  to  this  station  sometimes  in  infancy. 

The  chief  sachem  is  so  either  by  inheritance  or 
by  a  kind  of  tacit  consent,  the  consequence  of  his 

256 


Sir  William's  Character  and  Death 

superior  abilities  and  influence.  The  duration  of 
his  authority  depends  on  his  own  wisdom,  the  num 
ber  and  consequence  of  his  relations  and  the 
strength  of  his  particular  tribe  (if  in  a  Confed 
eracy).  But  in  those  cases  where  the  office  de 
scends  (by  inheritance)  should  the  successor 
appear  unequal  to  the  task,  some  other  sachem  is 
sure  to  possess  himself  of  the  powers  and  duties  of 
the  station.  I  should  have  observed  that  military 
services  are  the  chief  recommendation  to  this  rank. 
And  it  appears  pretty  clearly  that  heretofore  the 
chief  of  a  nation  had  in  some  small  degree  the  au 
thority  of  a  sovereign.  This  is  now  the  fact  among 
the  most  remote  Indians.  But,  since  the  introduc 
tion  of  firearms  they  no  longer  fight  in  close 
bodies,  but  every  man  is  his  own  general;  and  I 
am  inclined  to  think  that  this  is  calculated  to  lessen 
the  power  of  a  chief.  .  .  . 

The  chief  sachems  form  the  Grand  Council  and 
those  of  each  tribe  often  deliberate  apart  on  the 
affairs  of  their  particular  tribe.  All  their  delibera 
tions  are  conducted  with  extraordinary  regularity 
and  decorum.  They  never  interrupt  him  who  is 
speaking  or  use  harsh  language,  whatever  may  be 
their  thoughts. 

The  chiefs  assume  most  authority  in  the  field, 
but  this  must  be  done  even  there  with  extreme  cau 
tion.  .  .  . 

They  are  severe  upon  those  guilty  of  theft,  (a 
crime  indeed  uncommon  among  them)  ;  and  in 
cases  of  murder  the  relatives  are  left  to  take  what- 

257 


Sir  William  Johnson 

soever  revenge  they  please.  In  general  they  are 
unwilling  to  inflict  capital  punishments. 

On  their  hunts,  as  on  all  other  occasions,  they 
are  strict  observers  of  meum  and  tuum  and  on  this 
pure  principle,  holding  theft  in  contempt,  they  are 
rarely  guilty  of  it  though  tempted  by  articles  of 
much  value  or  ardently  coveted.  Neither  do  the 
strong  oppress  the  weak  or  attempt  to  seize  their 
prey  of  the  chase  or  anything  else  of  their  property. 
And  I  must  do  them  the  justice  to  say  that  unless 
heated  by  liquor  or  inflamed  by  revenge,  their 
ideas  of  right  and  wrong  and  their  practices  in 
consequence  of  them  would,  if  more  known,  do 
them  much  honor.  .  .  . 

As  to  your  remark  on  their  apparent  repug 
nance  to  civilization,  I  must  observe  that  this  is  not 
owing  to  any  viciousness  of  their  nature  or  want 
of  capacity,  as  they  have  a  strong  genius  for  arts 
and  uncommon  patience.  I  believe  they  are  put  in 
English  schools  too  late  in  life  and  sent  back  too 
soon  to  their  people,  whose  political  maxim,  Spar 
tan-like,  is  to  discountenance  all  pursuits  but  war, 
holding  all  other  knowledge  as  unworthy  the  dig 
nity  of  man  and  tending  to  enervate  and  divert 
them  from  that  warfare  on  which  they  conceive 
their  liberty  and  happiness  depend.  Such  senti 
ments  constantly  instilled  into  the  minds  of  youth 
and  illustrated  by  examples  drawn  from  the  con 
temptible  state  of  domesticated  tribes,  leave  lasting 
impressions  that  can  hardly  be  eradicated  by  an 
ordinary  school  education.  .  .  . 

258 


Sir  William's  Character  and  Death 

With  regard  to  language,  there  is  so  remarkable 
a  difference  between  the  tongue  of  the  Iroquois  and 
all  the  rest,  as  to  afford  some  ground  for  inquiry 
as  to  their  distinct  origin.  The  Indians  north  of 
the  St.  Lawrence  and  north  and  west  of  the  Great 
Lakes  and  those  who  live  in  the  Valley  of  the  Ohio, 
notwithstanding  the  differences  between  them  in 
other  respects,  speak  a  language  radically  the  same, 
and  can,  in  general,  communicate  their  wants  to 
each  other,  while  the  Iroquois  who  live  in  the  midst 
of  them  are  incapable  of  conveying  a  single  idea 
to  their  neighbors;  neither  can  they  pronounce  a 
word  of  their  language  correctly.  There  is  some 
difference  in  dialect  among  the  nations  of  the  Iro 
quois  themselves,  but  there  is  little  more  than  may 
be  found  in  the  different  provinces  of  large  states 
in  Europe.  .  .  . 

I  am  Sir,  your  very  Humble  Servant 

WM.  JOHNSON. 

We  have  reproduced  the  foregoing  rather 
as  a  sample  of  Sir  William's  literary  style 
than  for  the  sake  of  the  information  it  con 
tains.  All  the  facts  stated  in  it  are  well 
known  now ;  but  they  were  not  so  familiar  to 
the  reading  public  in  1771.  Only  about  one- 
third  of  the  whole  letter  appears  above.  It 
was,  in  fact,  a  paper,  and  was  printed  as  such 
in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Philosophical  Soci 
ety.  Most  modern  critics  would  call  the  style 
somewhat  involved  and,  perhaps,  ponderous; 
259 


Sir  William  Johnson 

but  after  all  Sir  William  managed  to  make 
his  points  clear. 

Sir  William  Johnson,  though  not  college- 
bred,  as  intimated  in  the  first  chapter,  was 
well  educated.  He  was  particularly  well 
versed  in  Latin,  and  his  library  was  well 
stocked  with  the  classics  of  that  tongue,  and 
also  with  more  modern  works  written  in  it. 
He  often  received  letters  in  Latin  from 
French  priests  in  Canada,  after  the  conquest, 
because  they  could  not  write  English  and  he 
could  not  read  French.  It  was  his  habit  to 
make  notes  of  his  own  and  attach  them  to  all 
important  letters  when  he  put  them  on  file; 
and  examination  of  his  manuscripts  showed 
that  his  notes  on  the  letters  in  Latin  were  al 
ways  in  that  language.  He  was  an  excep 
tionally  good  mathematician,  and  could  make 
and  plot  a  land  survey  as  well  and  as  accu 
rately  as  any  professional  surveyor. 

Though  he  never  had  the  slightest  military 
training  in  his  youth,  and  though  his  first 
actual  experience  in  warfare  was  the  com 
mand  of  a  considerable  force,  he  "took  to  the 
trade  "  intuitively,  and  became,  by  great  odds, 
the  ablest  and  most  successful  of  all  the  Pro 
vincial  generals,  excepting,  perhaps,  Sir  Will 
iam  Pepperell.  In  battle  he  exhibited  the 
most  daring  bravery,  but  in  the  general  han- 
260 


Sir  William's  Character  and  Death 

dling  of  his  troops,  maneuvring,  etc.,  he  was 
cool  and  cautious,  even  to  the  extent — as  some 
of  his  contemporaries  thought — of  over-pru 
dence. 

On  this  point,  however,  he  used  to  say  him 
self  that,  as  he  had  large  responsibilities  of 
command  thrust  upon  him  without  adequate 
military  experience  or  training,  he  was  often 
in  doubt ;  and  when  so  situated,  always  deter 
mined  that  any  error  he  might  commit  should 
be  on  the  safe  side !  "  I  was  always,"  he  once 
said,  "on  the  lookout  for  an  ambush,  and  was 
resolved  that,  whatever  else  my  fate  might 
be,  it  should  not  be  that  of  Braddock ! " 
When  commanding  Indians  he  always  let 
them  fight  their  own  way;  never  attempting 
to  do  anything  except  encourage  them  by  his 
presence  and  example.  Leading  white  troops 
he  observed  the  tactical  methods  then  in 
vogue ;  but  in  woods-fighting  was  much  more 
flexible  in  his  generalship  than  British  regu 
lar  officers  usually  were. 

On  this  point  General  Amherst  once  said 
to  another  British  officer  of  high  rank — Gen 
eral  Gage — "We  can  all  learn  something  from 
Johnson  in  the  style  of  fighting  we  have  to 
practice  here !  " 

In  the  ordinary  affairs  of  life  he  was  so 
ciable,  free  from  pretension,  easy  in  manner, 
261 


Sir  William  Johnson 

decorous  in  speech,  and  temperate  in  all 
things.  Singular  as  his  domestic  relations 
were  for  the  greater  part  of  his  life,  he  was 
always  devotedly  attached  to  his  home,  and 
exceedingly  fond  of  his  Indian  companions 
and  of  their  half-breed  children.  In  business 
matters  he  was  shrewd,  but  invariably  honest 
to  a  penny,  and  withal  a  generous  creditor. 
His  benevolence  was  proverbial,  and  no  other 
man  in  the  colonies  during  his  time  gave  half 
as  much  in  charity  as  he  did.  Though  form 
ally  a  member  of  the  Church  of  England,  he 
viewed  other  creeds  with  equal  favor,  and 
built  several  chapels  for  his  Lutheran  neigh 
bors  or  tenants,  besides  mission  school- 
houses  for  missionaries  of  other  denomina 
tions  than  his  own.  He  was  not  very  strict  in 
his  own  religious  observances,  but  always 
insisted  that  his  family — particularly  his 
girls,  white  and  half-breed  alike — should  be 
close  Conformists  in  all  the  rites  and  ceremo 
nies  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church. 

His  favorite  pastimes  were  gunning,  fish 
ing,  and  horse-racing.  He  was  in  the  habit 
of  inviting  the  whole  countryside  either  to 
Mount  Johnson  or  Johnson  Hall  several 
times  a  year  for  all  kinds  of  athletic  sports, 
of  which  his  own  favorites  were  boxing  and 
wrestling — at  both  of  which,  in  his  younger 
262 


Sir  William's  Character  and  Death 

days,  he  was  exceedingly  expert  and  formi 
dable.  On  one  occasion  a  militia  company 
in  his  own  regiment,  when  electing  officers, 
voted  a  tie  for  the  position  of  second  lieu 
tenant.  They  appealed  to  him  to  decide. 
"Let  them  strip,"  he  said,  "and  box  it  out. 
I  want  the  best  man  to  have  the  commis 
sion!" 

On  the  whole  and  without  further  anal 
ysis,  we  think  it  clear  that  Sir  William  John 
son  possessed  a  masterful  mind,  of  quick  in 
tuitions  and  wide  versatility;  fertile  in 
resource  and  keen  in  perception;  prompt  in 
decision  and  tremendously  energetic  in  execu 
tion.  Not,  perhaps,  amounting  to  what  is 
rather  indefinitely  termed  "genius,"  but  well- 
balanced,  steady,  and  safe. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  Sir  William's 
last  years  were  made  gloomy  by  the  growing 
contentions  and  rapidly  widening  breach  be 
tween  the  colonies  and  the  mother  country. 
Politically,  he  was  an  ardent  Whig,  and  as 
such  naturally  opposed  the  policies  of  the 
Grenville  and  North  ministries  toward  the 
colonies.  But  in  his  public  utterances  and  in 
his  correspondence  at  the  time  he  was  con 
servative  to  the  point  of  being  non-committal. 
In  a  letter  to  General  Gage,  dated  September, 
is  263 


Sir  William  Johnson 

1765,  after  deploring  the  "riotous  conduct" 
of  certain  colonists,  he  says : 

Having  a  large  property  to  lose  I  cannot  be 
supposed  to  think  differently  from  the  real  inter 
ests  of  America ;  yet,  as  a  lover  of  the  British  Con 
stitution,  I  shall  retain  sentiments  agreeable  to  it, 
although  I  should  be  almost  singular  [alone]  in 
my  opinion,  and  I  have  great  reason  to  think  that 
the  late  transactions  and  what  is  daily  expected 
in  other  Colonies,  will  be  productive  of  dangerous 
consequences.  But  I  do  not  enter  into  their  de 
bates  nor  suffer  myself  to  be  led  by  artful  con 
structions  of  the  law. 

A  more  significant  expression  occurs  in  a 
subsequent  letter  to  Dr.  Cadwallader  Golden, 
where  he  uses  the  more  epigrammatic,  though 
still  ambiguous,  phrase:  "For  my  part,  I 
neither  wish  us  here  more  power  than  we  can 
make  good  use  of,  nor  less  liberty  than  we 
have  a  right  to  expect." 

In  another  letter  he  "congratulates  his 
correspondent  on  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp 
Act,"  and  in  another  says:  "Unless  they  alter 
the  Stamp  Act,  we  shall  all  be  Republicans !  " 

General  Schuyler,  whom  he  visited  at  Al 
bany  in  1773,  on  the  occasion  of  placing  two  of 
his  half-breed  daughters  in  a  private  semi 
nary  there,  records  him  as  "using  language 
concerning  the  attitude  of  the  ministry,  and 
264 


Sir  William's  Character  and  Death 

also  its  personal  make-up,  which  I  should  have 
hesitated  to  use  myself !  "  But  Schuyler  does 
not  quote  him — doubtless  because  it  was  a 
dinner-table  conversation.  In  April,  1774, 
he  visited  New  York  city,  and  said  to  Philip 
Livingston,  in  the  course  of  a  friendly  chat : 

If  the  Colonies  unite  in  revolt  and  the  people 
are  unanimous — or  nearly  so — in  it,  I  do  not  be 
lieve  the  Crown  can  subdue  them.  The  regular 
troops  will  find  it  very  different  if  they  have  our 
Old  Provincials  against  them  instead  of  with  them. 
I  believe,  notwithstanding  the  extreme  lengths  to 
which  the  troubles  have  proceeded,  there  is  yet  one 
chance  left  for  reconciliation.  But  I  fear  it  can 
never  be  accomplished  by  His  Majesty's  present 
advisers ! 

His  last  recorded  utterance  on  the  subject 
was  early  in  July,  1774,  not  more  than  a  week 
before  his  death.  Dr.  Wheelock  was  visiting 
him,  as  he  habitually  did  during  vacations. 
The  doctor  records  him  as  saying : 

All  this  trouble  must  lead  to  blows  before  long. 
A  serious  collision  may  happen  any  day  now.  The 
Colonists  cannot  retreat,  and  the  King,  apparently, 
will  not.  I  am  filled  with  forebodings.  I  dread  the 
coming  of  a  struggle  that  must  shake  the  British 
Empire  to  its  foundations.  For  my  part  I  can 
only  say  now  that  I  shall  not  be  found  on  the  side 
of  the  aggressor! 

265 


Sir  William  Johnson 

Governor  Seymour,  who  had  seen  the 
above  in  the  Wheelock  MSS.  and  copied  it,  in 
terpreted  it  as  a  guarded  declaration  of  intent 
to  espouse  the  American  cause,  and  invariably 
expressed  the  belief  that  he  would  have  done 
so  had  he  lived  to  hear  the  news  from  Bunker 
Hill. 

The  nearest  approach  to  positive  testi 
mony  that  I  have  ever  seen  occurs  in  a  state 
ment  made  by  Colonel  Daniel  Glaus,  Sir  Will 
iam's  son-in-law,  which  has  never  before  been 
published,  so  far  as  I  know,  and  for  a  copy 
of  which  I  am  indebted  to  W.  Max  Reid,  au 
thor  of  the  History  of  the  Mohawk  Valley. 

For  brevity  I  may  premise  that  after  their 
defeat  at  Oriskany  and  the  slaughter  they  suf 
fered  there,  followed  so  closely  by  the  sur 
render  of  Burgoyne,  the  Iroquois  became 
deeply  dejected,  and  many  of  them,  particu 
larly  the  Senecas  and  Cayugas,  seriously  con 
templated  neutrality,  if  not  making  terms  with 
the  American  colonists  and  abandoning  the 
British  cause.  This  situation  called  forth  all 
the  resources  of  the  great  chief,  Joseph  Brant, 
to  keep  the  Indians  faithful  to  the  king.  On 
this  subject  Colonel  Claus  says : 

Brant  was  ably  seconded  in  his  efforts  by  the 
tears  and  prayers  of  his  sister  Molly,  who  had  been 
driven  from  her  home  at  Danube  by  the  enraged 
266 


Sir  William's  Character  and  Death 

Americans  after  the  battle  of  Oriskany.  The 
Americans  had  not  expelled  Molly  in  1776  at  the 
time  the  Royalists  were  driven  out,  but  had  left 
her  in  peace  at  the  Indian  Castle  at  Danube,  where 
she  took  up  her  residence  with  her  family,  when 
Sir  John  Johnson  occupied  Johnson  Hall  after  the 
baronet's  death. 

Shortly  after  the  battle  of  Oriskany  the  Amer 
icans  found  out  that  when  St.  Leger  and  Brant 
were  besieging  Fort  Schuyler,  Molly  sent  a  mes 
sage  by  an  Indian  runner  warning  Brant  that  a 
body  of  nearly  a  thousand  Militia  under  General 
Herkimer  were  on  the  march  to  relieve  the  garri 
son  of  that  Fort.  She  was  then  obliged  to  leave 
the  Mohawk  Valley,  and  she  went  for  safety  among 
the  Five  Nations,  where  she  was  assisted  by  her 
brother  and  the  people,  and  among  whom  she  took 
asylum.  Every  one  of  them  pressed  her  to  stay 
with  them,  but  she  fixed  upon  Cayuga  as  the  center, 
and  having  relations  among  them  by  whom  she  was 
kindly  received.  After  General  Burgoyne's  sur 
render  she  found  them,  in  general,  very  fickle  and 
wavering,  particularly  the  Head  Chief  of  the 
Senecas,  Cayenguorrahton,  with  whom  she  had  a 
long  conversation  in  council.  She  reminded  the 
Chief  of  the  great  friendship  between  him  and  the 
late  Sir  William  Johnson,  whose  name  she  could 
never  mention  without  tears,  which  always  greatly 
affect  the  Indians. 

She  told  the  Chief  that  she  had  often  heard 
Sir  William  declare  his  fixed  intention  to  live  and 

267 


Sir  William   Johnson 

die  a  firm  adherent  of  the  King  of  England  and  all 
his  friends ;  together  with  other  striking  arguments, 
which  had  such  an  effect  upon  the  Chief  and  other 
Sachems  present  that  they  promised  henceforth 
truthfully  to  keep  their  engagements  with  her  late 
friend  the  Baronet;  for  she  is  considered  and 
esteemed  by  them  as  his  relict,  and  one  word  from 
her  would  go  further  than  a  thousand  from  any 
white  man  whatever,  because  the  white  man  must 
generally  purchase  the  friendship  of  the  Indians 
at  a  high  rate.  In  fact  they  attached  much  more 
importance  to  her  advice  than  even  to  that  of  her 
brother  Joseph,  whose  prominence,  zeal  and  activ 
ity  rather  occasioned  envy  and  jealousy  with  many 
of  the  Indians. 

It  is  fair  to  presume  that  Colonel  Glaus 
reported  Molly's  interview  with  the  Seneca 
chief  correctly.  There  might,  perhaps,  be 
some  question  as  to  Molly's  own  accuracy  in 
quoting  Sir  William,  or  in  the  representations 
she  made  of  his  opinions  and  his  decision. 
She  was  at  that  time  undoubtedly  in  a  most 
revengeful  mood  toward  the  Americans.  She 
desired,  above  all  things,  that  the  Indians 
should  remain  true  to  the  cause  of  the  king. 
She  realized  that  nothing  but  the  success  of 
the  Royal  cause  could  restore  to  her  and 
her  children  the  fortune  bequeathed  to  them 
in  Sir  William's  will.  Under  these  condi 
tions  she  may  have  been,  and  probably  was, 
268 


Sir  William's  Character  and  Death 

what  the  lawyers  called  an  interesting  wit 
ness. 

Yet,  if  Sir  William  ever  expressed  any 
such  views,  she  was  quite  as  likely  to  hear 
them  as  any  other  person  then  living.  It  may 
be  mentioned  as  a  strange  fact  in  connection 
with  this  matter,  that  neither  Sir  William's 
son,  Sir  John  Johnson,  nor  his  two  sons-in- 
law,  Colonel  Glaus  and  Guy  Johnson,  ever 
pretended  to  have  heard  him  make  any  posi 
tive  expression  on  the  subject. 

Whatever  deductions  we  may  draw  from 
this  conflicting  testimony,  one  thing  alone  is 
certain :  to  the  day  of  his  death  he  held  scru 
pulously  aloof  from  the  debates  and  the  coun 
cils  of  both  sides,  taking  no  part  whatever  in 
the  agitation;  and  he  was  invariably  equally 
kind  and  hospitable  to  the  Sons  of  Liberty, 
and  to  the  officials  of  the  Crown.  If  he  had 
really  made  up  his  mind,  he  took  his  decision 
with  him  to  the  tomb. 

For  my  own  part,  I  venture  no  opinion. 
But  it  seems  quite  justifiable  to  say  that  had 
he  lived  and  adhered  to  the  American  cause, 
the  fate  of  the  "Old  New  York  Frontier,"  in 
respect  to  the  warfare  of  Indians  and  Tories 
on  the  settlers,  would  have  been  vastly  differ 
ent  from  what  it  was ;  because  the  only  man 
who  could  have  swerved  the  Iroquois  from 
269 


Sir  William  Johnson 

their  ancient  covenant  with  the  king  was  Sir 
.William  Johnson. 

He  died  as  he  had  lived — in  harness.  On 
the  llth  of  July,  1774,  he  made  a  long  speech 
— nearly  two  hours — to  about  six  hundred 
Indians,  mostly  Iroquois,  who  had  assembled 
at  Johnson  Hall  to  invoke  his  influence  to  pre 
vent  the  invasion  of  the  Indian  country  on  the 
Ohio  known  as  "Dunmore's  War,"  which  cul 
minated  in  the  defeat  and  destruction  of  a 
considerable  force  of  Indians — mostly  from 
the  Ohio  tribes — under  the  chief,  Cornstalk, 
by  a  superior  army  of  Virginia,  Maryland, 
and  Pennsylvania  frontiersmen  under  Gen 
eral  Andrew  Lewis  at  Point  Pleasant — the 
confluence  of  the  Ohio  and  Great  Kanawha 
rivers. 

He  was  at  this  time  much  weakened  by 
dysentery,  and  exposure  to  an  extremely  hot 
sun,  together  with  the  excessive  mental  and 
physical  strain  of  the  long  speech,  brought  on 
prostration  by  heat,  which  soon  developed  into 
cerebral  apoplexy.  He  died  at  six  o'clock  P.  M., 
July  11,  1774,  about  two  hours  after  finishing 
his  speech.  His  last  words  were  spoken  to 
Joseph  Brant,  who,  with  others,  carried  his 
limp  form  into  the  Hall.  They  were:  "Jo 
seph,  control  your  people — control  your  peo 
ple  !  I  am  going  away !  " 
270 


Sir  William's  Character  and  Death 

These  words,  spoken  to  Brant  in  the  Iro- 
quois  tongue,  were  echoed  through  every 
village  of  the  Six  Nations,  from  the  Lower 
Mohawk  Castle  to  Niagara.  Unquestionably 
they,  more  than  any  other  influence — or  more 
than  all  other  influences  combined — caused 
the  almost  unanimous  election  of  Brant  to  be 
grand  sachem  or  senior  chief  of  the  Iroquois 
Confederacy  not  long  afterward.  The  Indi 
ans  interpreted  the  words  to  mean  that  Sir 
William,  with  his  latest  conscious  breath,  be 
queathed  his  mantle  to  Joseph  Brant,  and  the 
magic  of  his  power  over  them  was  not  im 
paired  by  death  itself. 

Sir  John  Johnson  was  at  his  home — the 
Mount — nearly  ten  miles  away,  when  his 
father  was  stricken.  An  express  sent  by  the 
hands  of  young  William  Johnson,  the  half- 
breed  son,  mounted  on  the  fleetest  horse  in  Sir 
William's  racing-stable,  reached  Sir  John 
about  five  o'clock — young  William  ruining  the 
blooded  horse  he  rode.  Sir  John  instantly 
saddled  his  own  best  race-horse — an  Irish 
steeplechaser  named  Royal  Duke,  the  most 
valuable  stallion  then  in  the  colonies — and 
covered  nine  miles  of  the  distance  in  thirty 
minutes.  The  steeplechaser  fell  dead  with 
in  a  mile  of  Johnson  Hall,  and  Sir  John 
borrowed  the  horse  of  a  farmer  who  hap- 
is*  271 


Sir  William  Johnson 

pened  to  be  in  the  road  when  his  own  stal 
lion  fell,  and  soon  arrived  at  the  Hall.  But 
his  father,  though  still  breathing,  was  un 
conscious,  and  in  a  few  minutes  passed 
away. 


272 


APPENDIX 


WORKS   CONSULTED 


Life  of  Sir  William  Johnson    . 

Life  of  Sir  William  Johnson    . 

Life  of  Sir  William  Johnson    . 

Life  of  Sir  William  Johnson  (Canadian) . 

Life  of  Joseph  Brant        .... 

The  Old  New  York  Frontier    . 

The  Mohawk  Valley 

History  of  Herkimer  County    . 

History  of  Chenango  County    . 

History  of  Otsego  County 

History  of  the  Five  Nations 

History  of  Herkimer  County    . 

A  Voyage  to  North  America,  1772  . 

Memoir  of  Rev.  Dr.  Wheelock 

Dr.  Wheelock's  Narrative  of  the  Indian 

School  at  Lebanon,  Conn.     . 
Settlement  of  the  Genesee  Country  . 
Gazetteer  of  New  York  State,  1821 . 
Historical  Gazetteer  of  New  York,  1860 
History  of  Schoharie  County   . 
Narrative  of  Mary  Jemison 
Life  of  Mary  Jemison       . 
Annals  of  Tryon  County  . 
Early  Times  on  the  Susquehanna     . 
Montcalm  and  Wolfe        .... 
Pontiac's  Conspiracy         . 
History  of  Braddock's  Expedition   . 
Narrative  of  Ezra  Buell   .        .        .        . 
New  York  Colonial  Documents 
History  of  Montgomery  County 

273 


William  L.  Stone. 

William  E.  Griffis. 

Claus. 

Anon. 

William  L.  Stone. 

Francis  W.  Halsey, 

W.  Max  Reid. 

Benton. 

Anon. 

Anon. 

Cadwallader  Golden. 

Beers. 

Peter  Kalm. 

McClure. 

Auto. 

Williamson. 

Spofford. 

French. 

Jephtha  R.  Simms. 

Auto. 

Seaver. 

Wm.  W.  Campbell. 

Mrs.  Perkins. 

Francis  Parkman. 

Ibid. 

Sargent. 

Auto. 

Public  Print. 

Beers. 


Sir  William  Johnson 


The  Iroquois  League         .... 
Eight  Years  in  America.     Journal  of  an 

Officer's  Wife 

Narrative  of  James  Smith.     Six  Years' 

Captivity 

Journal  of  Jean  Fran£ois  Joncaire  . 
Journal  of  Father  Joliet  .... 
Journal  of  Father  Moline 
Journal  of  George  Washington.     Ohio 

Expeditions 

Journal  of  Captain  Orme.     Braddock's 

Expedition 

Reports    of     the     Marquis     Duquesne. 

Operations  in  New  France,  1753-1755  . 
History  of  New  France.     (Histoire  de  la 

Nouvelle  France) 

The  Holy  Cross  in  America.     Collection 

of  Narratives  of  Jesuit  Fathers    . 
Life  of  General  John  Stark 
Life  of  General  John  Stark 
History  of  the  Seneca  Nation  . 
Rites  and  Social  Customs  of  the  Iroquois. 

(By  a  daughter  of  Sir  William  Johnson) 
Public  Correspondence  of  Sir  William 

Johnson 

History  of  the  Fur  Trade 

Half  a  Century  of  Conflict 

Essays  of  Voltaire. 

The  Defeat  of  Braddock  .... 

Memoir  of  Father  Picquet 
The  Montours,  Mother,  Sons,  and  Grand 
sons        ....... 

Memoir  of  the  Comte  de  Frontenac 

Diary  of  Admiral  Sir  Peter  Warren        .  -j 

Sketch  of  Sir  William  Pepperell 
Journal  of  Dr.  Williams,  with  Letters  to 

his  Wife 

274 


Lewis  H.  Morgan. 
Mrs.  Julia  Grant. 

Auto. 
Auto. 
Auto. 
Auto. 

Auto. 
Auto. 
Auto. 
St.  Martin. 

Anon. 

Caleb  Stark. 
Edward  Everett. 
Parker. 

Mrs.  Kerr. 

Sir  John  Johnson. 

Heath. 

Francis  Parkman. 

Dumas. 
Anon. 

Mackenzie. 
By  his  Grandson. 
Navy  Records  Soci 
ety,  of  England. 
Wilson. 

Auto. 


INDEX 


ABE 
A  BERCROMBIE,  General  James, 

-£±-  in  French  war,  163,  164  ;  at 
tack  on  Fort  Ticonderoga,  165, 
180. 

Abraham,  Chief,  44,  49,  52,  54 ;  at 
Albany  conference,  65. 

Aix-la-Chapelle,  treaty  of,  1748,  33, 
38,  114. 

Albany,  grand  council  at,  62  ;  visit 
of  chiefs  to  Governor  Clinton  at, 
78 ;  convention  of  Colonial  dele 
gates  at,  in  1754,  89. 

Alexandria,  Va.,  conference  of  Co 
lonial  governors  with  General 
Braddock  at,  133. 

Amherst,  General  Sir  Jeffrey,  161 
note,  169 ;  character  and  ability, 
181 ;  takes  Louisburg,  180;  orders 
respecting  Colonial  officers,  181 ; 
capture  of  Ticonderoga  and 
Crown  Point,  182,  184,  192 ;  cam 
paign  against  Montreal,  197 ; 
capitulation  of  Montreal,  202 ; 
plans  expedition  against  Louisi 
ana,  208 ;  bitterness  toward  the 
Senecas,  227  ;  raised  to  the  peer 
age,  207 ;  compliments  Sir  Will 
iam  Johnson,  192  ;  opinion  of  Sir 
William  Johnson,  261. 

Amsterdam,  N.  Y.,  13. 

Anasthose,  Chief,  in  command  of 
Indians  at  Braddock's  defeat,  106, 
129. 

Anne,  Queen,  reign  of,  2. 


BRA 

Austrian  Succession,  War  of  the, 
effect  on  American  colonies,  31. 

TDARCLAY,  Mrs.,  48. 

-L*  Beaujeau,  Captain,  120;  de 
feats  Braddock,  127. 

Blanchard,  Colonel  J.  A.,  137. 

Boquet,  Colonel  Henry,  relieves 
Fort  Pitt,  225. 

Boscawen,  Admiral  Edward,  168. 

Braddock,  Major-General  Edward, 
chosen  for  the  American  com 
mand,  124 ;  arrival  in  America, 
124  ;  reappoints  Sir  William  John 
son,  125  ;  plans  for  the  campaign, 
133 ;  campaign,  defeat,  and  death, 
126  ;  Braddock's  defeat,  effect  on 
the  colonies,  156 ;  effect  on  Indi 
ans,  137. 

Brant,  Joseph,  20,  48,  53,  69  note  ; 
education,  223 ;  in  campaign 
against  Crown  Point,  139 ;  at 
Lake  George,  159  ;  in  Fort  Ni 
agara  campaign,  189 ;  in  St.  Law 
rence  campaign,  200  note  ;  after 
battle  of  Oriskany,  266  ;  final  ad 
vice  of  Sir  William  to,  270. 

— ,  Mary,  relations  of  Sir  William 
Johnson  with  the  Indian  woman, 
48,  52,  55,  61,  248  ;  after  battle  of 
Oriskany,  266. 

— ,  Chief  Nicklaus,  44,  49,  53,  57 ; 
on  Seneca  expedition,  86 ;  suc 
ceeds  Hendrick,  158 ;  after  Ger- 


275 


Sir  William  Johnson 


BUE 

man  Flats  massacre,  176  ;  in  Fort 

Niagara  campaign,  189. 
Buell,  Ezra,  21,  237,  244. 
— ,  Simon,  20. 
Butler,  John,  22. 
Byrne,  Michael,  53. 

/"CANADA,  French,  population  of, 

^-^  94 ;  commercial  records  of, 
99 ;  preparations  for  the  war  in, 
117. 

Caroline  (Hendrick),  relations  of 
Sir  William  Johnson  with  the  In 
dian  woman,  44,  49, 61  ;  death,  57. 

Cayugas,  28,  58,  65  ;  disaffection  of, 
176  ;  conference  at  Mount  John 
son  in  1758,  183. 

Claus,  Colonel  Daniel,  deputy  su 
perintendent  of  Indian  affairs, 
219,  222,  235  ;  on  Sir  William's  at 
titude  toward  the  Revolution,  266. 

Clauzun,  Mile.,  marries  Jean  Fran- 
gois  Joncaire,  106. 

Clauzun-Joncaire,  Jean  Francois, 
106,  132  note. 

Clinton,  George,  Governor  of  New 
York,  15  ;  correspondence  with 
Sir  William  Johnson  on  Indian 
question,  15,  25,  29,  34;  Albany 
conference,  64;  and  Hardenburgh 
affair,  74  ;  receives  delegation  to 
protest  Sir  William  Johnson's 
resignation  as  superintendent  of 
Indian  affairs,  78. 

Clinton,  General  Sir  Henry,  15. 

Cole,  Lieutenant-Colonel,  at  Lake 
George,  146. 

Colonial  troops,  value  of,  157  ;  con 
trasted  with  French  Canadian 
militia,  111  ;  at  first  capture  of 
Louisburg,  33  ;  in  Braddock  cam 
paign,  126  ;  in  campaign  against 
Crown  Point,  136  ;  under  Sir  Jef 
frey  Amherst,  181. 

Colonies,  English,  in  America,  in 
1715,  3,  93. 


DIN 

Colonies,  French,  in  America,  93. 

Contrecoeur,  Captain,  receives  sur 
render  of  Captain  Trent,  84 ;  at 
Fort  Duquesne,  130. 

Cornplanter,  Chief,  domestic  life  of, 
239. 

Croghan,  Major  George,  in  com 
mand  at  Fort  Pitt,  225  ;  deputy 
superintendent  of  Indian  affairs, 
219,  235. 

Crown  Point,  movement  of  1746 
upon,  32  ;  of  1747,  34  ;  expedition 
for  the  reduction  of,  134 ;  Mont- 
calm  at,  171 ;  captured  by  Gen 
eral  Amherst,  182, 184, 192. 

Cumberland,  Duke  of,  Commander- 
in-chief  of  British  army,  122,  179  ; 
praise  of  Sir  William  Johnson, 


D 'AUBREY,  Colonel.  French 
commander,  defeated  at  Ni 
agara  by  Sir  William  Johnson, 
188. 

De  Jumonville,  French  command 
er,  Washington's  fight  with,  84. 

De  Lancey,  James,  Chief-Justice, 
23, 25 ;  the  Hardenburgh  affair,  74. 

— ,  Stephen,  9,  23. 

— ,  Susan  (Lady  Peter  Warren),  9 
note. 

Detroit,  Sir  William's  visit  to,  108  ; 
grand  council  at,  in  1761,  212 ; 
Pontiac's  attack  on,  224. 

De  Vaudreuil,  Marquis,  Governor- 
General  of  Canada,  143  ;  in  com 
mand  at  Montreal,  197,  202. 

De  Villiers,  French  commander,  re 
ceives  capitulation  of  Fort  Neces 
sity,  85. 

Dieskau,  Baron,  attack  upon  Sir 
William  Johnson  at  Lake  George, 
143  ;  after  battle  of  Lake  George, 
167. 

Dinwiddie,  Robert,  Governor  of  Vir 
ginia,  84. 


276 


Index 


DON 

Donaldson,  Professor,  quoted,  50, 
243. 

Dunbar,  Colonel  Thomas,  123,  126. 

Dunmore's  War,  270. 

Duquesne,  Marquis,  Governor-Gen 
eral  of  Canada,  94,  117,  120. 

T71NGLAND,  colonies  in  America, 
-L^    3, 93 ;  claim  to  the  Ohio  Valley, 

81 ;  preparations  for  the  French 

War,  122. 

Tj^OLLECK,    John,    rifle-maker, 

-JP      250. 

Fontenoy,  battle  of,  119. 

Forbes,  General  John,  captures 
Fort  Duquesne,  1C9,  180. 

Fort  Cumberland,  126. 

Fort  Duquesne,  121  ;  captured  by 
General  Forbes,  180.  See  Fort 
Pitt. 

Fort  Edward,  site  of,  39  ;  estab 
lished,  138  ;  General  Webb  at,  165. 

Fort  Le  Boeuf,  87,  121  ;  massacre 
at,  in  Pontiac's  War,  227. 

Fort  Necessity,  capitulation  of,  85, 
122. 

Fort  Pitt,  219  ;  attack  on,  in  Ponti- 
ac's  War,  225.  See  Fort  Du 
quesne. 

Fort  Stanwix,  86. 

Fort  Stanwix  Treaty  Line  of  1769, 
22,  244. 

Fort  William  Henry,  demonstra 
tion  against,  171  ;  capture  and 
massacre  at,  172,  165. 

France,  colonies  of,  in  America,  93  ; 
claim  of,  to  the  Ohio  Valley,  81 ; 
preparations  for  the  war,  117. 

Frontenac,  Comte  de,  68  note  ;  at 
Schenectady  massacre,  175. 

GAGE,  General  Thomas,  in  com 
mand   at   Oswego,    193 ;    in 
Montreal  campaign,  204. 
German  Flats,  massacre  of,  175. 


IND 

Gist,  Christopher,  explores  the 
Ohio,  84 

Gladwyn,  Major,  in  command  at 
Detroit,  224. 

Grant,  Mrs.  Julia,  visit  to  Mount 
Johnson,  43. 

Great  Meadows,  Washington's 
skirmish  at,  84. 

Griffis1s,  "  Life  of  Sir  William  John 
son,11  quoted,  59. 

HALF-BREEDS,  importance  of, 
in  French  war,  113. 

Halket,  Sir  Peter,  123,  126. 

Hardenburgh,  Sir  William  John 
son1^  affair  with  representative, 
73. 

Haviland,  Colonel,  in  Montreal 
campaign,  197,  202. 

Hawke,  Sir  Edward,  in  French 
War,  168. 

Hawkins,  Henry,  rifle-maker,  250. 

Hendrick,  Chief,  36,  44,  52,  54,  65 ; 
protests  against  Sir  William 
Johnson^  resignation,  78 ;  in 
campaign  against  Crown  Point, 
139 ;  death  of,  at  Lake  George, 
145,  158. 

— ,  Caroline.  See  Caroline  (Hen 
drick). 

Hi-o-ka-to,  chief  of  Senecas,  63,  72  ; 
visit  to,  86  ;  in  campaign  against 
Crown  Point,  137 ;  in  Fort  Niagara 
campaign,  189 ;  in  St.  Lawrence 
campaign,  199  note. 

Holborn,  Admiral,  174. 

Howe,  Sir  Richard,  168. 

TNDIAN  affairs,  condition  of,  in 
-•-  early  eighteenth  century,  14  ; 
Sir  William  Johnson's  service  in, 
16,  25  ;  superintendent  of,  34  ;  re 
signs,  77 ;  reappointed  by  Brad- 
dock,  125. 

—  Commissioners,  Board  of,  26 ; 
abolished,  34. 


277 


Sir  William  Johnson 


IND 

Indians,  customs  and  habits,  44,  57, 
254 ;  domestic  life,  19  ;  number, 
241 ;  hospitality,  85  ;  missions  to, 
27,  101  ;  French  and  English 
methods  of  dealing  with  the  In 
dians,  97 ;  in  first  campaign 
against  Crown  Point,  36,  38  ;  in 
French  War,  97,  100,  107  ;  under 
French  at  Braddock^s  defeat, 
129  ;  assembly  at  Mount  Johnson 
in  1755,  135;  at  battle  of  Lake 
George,  147 ;  status  after  the 
French  War,  209. 

"Indian  trade  smooth  bore,11  in 
vented  by  Sir  William,  71. 

Iroquois,  number  of  the,  102 ;  na 
ture  and  customs,  50 ;  compara 
tive  civilization,  235. 

—  confederacy,  19,  27  ;  importance 
of,  42 ;  in  French  and  Indian 
War,  101,  136 ;  in  Fort  Niagara 
campaign,  187. 

Isle  aux  Noix,  182. 


JEAN  COEUR.11  See  Joncaire, 
^  Jean  Francois. 

Jemison,  Mary,  63. 

Jesuits,  labors  and  influence  of  the, 
with  the  Indians,  101  ;  schools  in 
Canada,  106;  after  the  French 
and  Indian  War,  211. 

Johnson,  Anne  (Warren),  mother 
of  Sir  William,  4. 

— ,  Anne,  daughter  of  Sir  William 
by  Katharine  Weisenburg,  17,  46  ; 
marriage,  219,  222. 

— ,  Anne,  daughter  of  Sir  William 
by  Mary  Brant,  55. 

— ,  Caroline,  daughter  of  Sir  Will 
iam  by  Caroline  (Hendrick),  52, 
56,  222. 

— ,  Charlotte,  daughter  of  Sir  Will 
iam  by  Caroline  (Hendrick),  52, 
56,222. 

— ,  Christopher,  father  of  Sir  Will 
iam,  4. 

278 


JOH 

Johnson,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 
Sir  William  by  Mary  Brant,  55. 

— ,  George,  son  of  Sir  William  by 
Mary  Brant,  55. 

— ,  Colonel  Guy,  nephew  of  Sir 
William,  213,  219,  222,  235. 

— ,  Sir  John,  son  of  Sir  William  by 
Katharine  Weisenburg,  17, 46  ;  iu 
St.  Lawrence  campaign,  199  note ; 
at  Detroit  conference,  213 ;  suc 
ceeds  to  estate  at  Mount  John 
son,  221,  271. 

— ,  Katharine  (Weisenburg),  wife  of 
Sir  William,  16  ;  died,  46. 

— ,  Magdalene,  daughter  of  Sir 
William  by  Mary  Brant,  55. 

— ,  Margaret,  daughter  of  Sir  Will 
iam  by  Mary  Brant,  55. 

— ,  Mary,  daughter  of  Sir  William 
by  Katharine  Weisenburg,  17,  46; 
marriage,  219,  222. 

— ,  Mary,  daughter  of  Sir  William 
by  Mary  Brant,  55,  222. 

— ,  Peter  Warren,  son  of  Sir  Will 
iam  by  Mary  Brant,  55. 

— ,  Suzanne,  daughter  of  Sir  Will 
iam  by  Mary  Brant,  55. 

— ,  William,  son  of  Sir  William  by 
Caroline  (Hendrick),  52,  54,  55, 
271  ;  education,  222,  237. 

— ,  Captain  Warren,  brother  of  Sir 
William,  18,  23  ;  at  siege  and  cap 
ture  of  Louisburg,  33. 

— ,  Sir  William :  parentage,  4 ;  birth 
and  boyhood,  4 ;  school  life,  6 ; 
personality,  43  ;  character,  261 ; 
scholarship,  260  ;  military  ability, 
260  ;  knowledge  of  Indian  cus 
toms,  14,  254  ;  marriage  to  Kath 
arine  Weisenburg,  16 ;  domestic 
life,  43,  46  ;  children,  17,  46,  52, 
55  ;  estate,  246  ;  library,  252  ; 
stock-raising,  30 ;  slaves,  31  ;  ar 
rival  in  New  York,  9  ;  method  of 
distributing  land,  18 ;  corre 
spondence  with  Governor  Clin- 


Index 


JOH 

ton  on  the  Indian  question,  15,  25, 
29,  34 ;  laud  titles,  referee  in  re 
gard  to,  in  Mohawk  Valley,  25 ; 
wounded  at  Lake  George,  150 ; 
designs  gun  for  Indian  trade,  71  ; 
king's  magistrate,  30  ;  colonel  of 
militia,  29;  commissioned  colonel, 
34  ;  major-general,  155  ;  receives 
baronetcy,  155  ;  death,  270. 

—  Hall,  removal  to,  221. 

— ,  Mount.    See  Mount  Johnson. 

Johnstown,  N.  Y.,  founded,  221  ; 
growth  of,  248. 

Joncaire,  Chabert  or  Chaubert,  104, 
131. 

— ,  Captain  Jean  Francois,  104,  69 
note,  102,  120  ;  meets  Sir  William 
at  Kanandegea,  87 ;  at  Braddock's 
defeat,  128 ;  last  days,  131  note. 

TT"  AY-AG-SHO-TA,  father  of  Red 

-"-  Jacket,  240  ;  at  Albany  con 
ference,  66. 

Kanaudegea,  principal  town  of  the 
Senecas,  85. 

Kaskaskia,  111.,  established,  115. 

Kerr,  Mrs.,  daughter  of  Sir  William 
and  Mary  Brant,  56. 

King,  George,  53. 

"  King  George's  War,"  32. 

LA  BUTE,  Jacques,  216,  243. 
La  Galette,  capture  of,  200. 

La  Gallissoniere,  Count  de,  Govern 
or-General  of  Canada,  117,  120. 

Lake  George,  arrival  of  Sir  William 
Johnson  at,  141  ;  battle  of,  143. 

Lawrence,  Governor  Charles,  of 
Nova  Scotia,  134. 

Lewis,  General  Andrew,  defeats 
the  Indians  at  Point  Pleasant,  270. 

Liquor,  laws  in  regard  to  selling, 
to  Indians,  27. 

Little  Abe,  Chief,  53. 

Loudoun,  Lord,  in  French  War,  163, 
180  ;  retreat  from  Louisburg,  174. 


MOR 

Louis  XIV,  wars  with  William  of 
Orange,  1. 

—  XV,  reign  of,  3;  attitude 
toward  Canada,  11G. 

Louisburg,  Cape  Breton,  98 ;  cap 
tured  by  Provincial  soldiers,  32  ; 
threatened  by  Lord  Loudoun, 
174 ;  captured  by  General  Am- 
herst,  180  ;  Wolfe  at,  182. 

Louisiana,  expedition  planned 
against,  208. 

Lyman,  General  Phineas,  47,  137, 
140  ;  at  Lake  George,  150. 

MACKINAW,    massacre   at,  in 
Pontiac's  War,  227. 
Militia,  reorganization  of  Albany, 

40  ;  French  Canadian,  111. 
Missions,   Jesuit,   to   the   Indians, 

27  ;   Protestant,  to  the   Indians, 

27. 
Maumee,  massacre  at,  in  Pontiac's 

War,  227. 
Metcalf,  Simon,  chief  surveyor  of 

Fort  Stanwix  treaty  line,  22,  237, 

244. 
Mohawk,  early  settlements  on  the, 

8, 13,  18,  30. 
Monroe,  Colonel,  massacred  at  Fort 

William  Henry,  166, 172. 
Montcalm,  General  Louis  Joseph, 

111 ;  character  and  ability,  167 ; 

defense  of  Fort  Ticonderoga,  165 ; 

takes  Oswego,  169 ;    takes  Fort 

William  Henry,  172 ;  defense  of 

Quebec  and  death,  195. 
Montour,  Andre,  68  note. 
— ,  Catharine,  68  note. 
— ,    Jean,    68,   78 ;    in    campaign 

against  Crown  Point,  137 ;  in  Fort 

Niagara  campaign,  189. 
Montreal,  98  ;  retreat  of  the  French 

forces  to,  196  ;  final  campaign  of 

General   Amherst   against,  197; 

capitulation  of,  201. 
Morgan,  General  Daniel,  53,  225. 


279 


Sir  William  Johnson 


MOU 

Mount  Johnson,  13,  17,  43 ;  Indian 
visitors,  43,  58 ;  assembly  of  In 
dians  at,  in  1755, 135  ;  Indian  con 
ference  at,  in  1758,  183  ;  removal 
from,  to  Johnson  Hall,  221. 

Hurray,  General  James,  in  Mon 
treal  campaign,  197,  202. 

NAVY,  English,  work  of,  in 
French  War,  168. 

Newcastle,  Duke  of,  Prime  Min 
ister,  37,  122,  163;  end  of  min 
istry,  179. 

Niagara,  Fort,  General  Shirley's 
campaign  against,  134,  143,  156, 
162  ;  General  Prideaux's  and  Sir 
William  Johnson's  expedition 
against,  184,  186  ;  attacks  on,  in 
Pontiac's  War,  226;  visit  to,  in 
1766, 131  note  ;  grand  council  at, 
in  1766,  233. 

/~\GHWAGA.    See  Oquawgo. 

^-'     Ohio  Land  Company,  81. 

Ohio  Valley,  French  and  English 
claims  to  the,  82,  114  ;  first  cam 
paigns  in  the,  84. 

Onondagas,  disaffection  of,  176 ; 
conference  at  Mount  Johnson 
with  the,  in  1758,  183. 

Oquawgo  or  Oghwaga,  trading- 
post  at,  19. 

Oriskany,  battle  of,  54,  266. 

Orme,  Captain,  Braddock's  chief  of 
staff,  126. 

Oswegatchie,  capture  of,  200. 

Oswego,  captured  by  Montcalm, 
169;  General  Gage  in  command 
at,  193;  assembly  of  troops  at, 
for  St.  Lawrence  campaign,  199 ; 
Pontiac's  surrender  at,  233. 

TDALM,    Frederick,    rifle-maker, 
-^       250. 

Palm,  Jacob,  rifle-maker,  250. 
Parkman,  Francis,  provincial  bias 
of,  46  note. 


SAI 

Pepperell,  Sir  William,  at  siege  and 
capture  of  Louisburg,  33 ;  in  com 
mand  at  Albany,  1747-48,  36 ;  at 
beginning  of  French  War,  123; 
military  ability,  260. 

Pitt,  William,  accession  to  the  min 
istry,  179. 

Polk,  Colonel  Thomas,  deputy  su 
perintendent  of  Indian  affairs,  235. 

Pontiac,  at  Braddock's  defeat,  129  ; 
with  Montcalm  at  Oswego,  169; 
meets  Rogers  and  Stark  near  De 
troit,  207 ;  Pontiac's  War,  69  note, 
131,  223  ;  formal  surrender,  232. 

Pettier,  Father  Pierre,  Jesuit  mis 
sionary  to  the  Indians,  at  Detroit 
conference,  216. 

Pouchet,  French  commander  at 
Fort  Niagara,  191 ;  at  La  Galette, 
200. 

Presque  Isle  (Erie,  Pa.),  120,  121; 
massacre  at,  in  Pontiac's  War, 
227. 

Prideaux,  General  John,  expedition 
with  Sir  William  Johnson  against 
Fort  Niagara,  184, 186;  killed,  187. 

QUEBEC,  98  ;  Wolfe's  campaign 
against,  184,  195. 
Queen  Esther,  69  note. 

"DANDALL,  Henry,  53. 

-1- *  Reid,  W.  Max,  History  of  the 
Mohawk  Valley,  quoted,  17,  51. 

Revolution,  the  American,  Sir  Will 
iam  Johnson's  attitude  toward, 
263. 

Rifle  manufacture  in  America,  70 ; 
introduced  into  New  York,  249. 

Rogers,  Major  Robert,  expedition 
to  Detriot,  207. 

ST.  CHARLES,  Mo.,  established, 
115. 

St.  Genevieve,  Mo.,  established,  115. 
St.  Joseph,  massacre  at,  in  Pon 
tiac's  War,  227. 


280 


Index 


SAI 

St.  Martin,  Father,  Jesuit  mission 
ary  to  the  Indians,  History  of 
New  France,  108;  at  Detroit 
conference,  216,  243. 

St.  Mary's,  massacre  at,  in  Pon- 
tiae's  War,  227. 

St.  Pierre,  Captain  Jacques  Legar- 
deur  de,  131, 144. 

Sandusky,  massacre  at,  in  Pon- 
tiac's  War,  227. 

Schenectady,  8;  massacre  at,  in 
1690, 175. 

Schuyler,  Colonel  Peter,  26. 

Senecas,  28,  58,  65 ;  disaffection 
among  the,  85, 101, 176  ;  and  news 
of  Braddock's  defeat,  137  ;  con 
ference  at  Mount  Johnson  with 
the,  in  1758,  183 ;  in  Montreal 
campaign,  199  note  ;  in  Pontiac's 
War,  226  ;  General  Amherst's  bit 
terness  toward,  227. 

Shirley,  Governor  William,  of  Mas 
sachusetts,  90;  controversy  with 
Sir  William  Johnson,  138,  159  ; 
at  beginning  of  French  War,  123  ; 
expedition  against  Fort  Niagara, 
134,  143,  156,  162. 

Spencer,  Thomas,  54. 

Stark,  John,  in  campaign  against 
Crown  Point,  140;  at  Battle  of 
Lake  George,  150;  in  St.  Law 
rence  campaign,  200  note  ;  expe 
dition  to-Detroit,  207. 

rpHAYENDANEGEA.  See  Jo- 
-*-  seph  Brant. 

Ticonderoga,  Fort,  built  by  Mont- 
calm,  171 ;  Abercrombie's  attack 
on,  165,  180;  captured  by  Gen 
eral  Amherst,  182,  184,  192. 

Trent,  Captain,  expedition  to  the 
Ohio,  87  ;  surrender,  122. 


WOL 

VAN     COURTLANDT,     Philip, 
72. 

Van  Ness,  Rev.  Mr.,  27. 
Venango,    French     fort    at,    121  ; 
Washington's  visit  to,  87;  mas 
sacre  at,  in  Pontiac's  War,  227. 
Vincennes,  Ind.,  established,  115. 

TTTARREN,  Anne.  See  Anne 
V  *  (Warren)  Johnson. 

Warren,  Admiral  Sir  Peter,  5, 8, 11 ; 
fortune  of,  23 ;  at  siege  and  cap 
ture  of  Louisburg,  33. 

Warrensburg,  orWarrensbush,  first 
settlement  at,  10,  13. 

Washington,  Augustine,  82. 

Washington,  George,  in  early  Ohio 
River  campaign,  84  visit  to  Ve 
nango,  87;  capitulation  of  Fort 
Necessity,  85,  122;  in  General 
Braddock's  campaign,  126;  esti 
mate  of  Braddock,  132. 

Washington,  Lawrence,  82. 

Webb,  General,  incapacity  of,  163, 
165,  180;  Fort  William  Henry 
massacre,  165, 172. 

Weisenberg,  Rev.  Jacob,  16,  26. 

Weisenburg,  Katharine.  See  Kath 
arine  (Weisenburg)  Johnson. 

Wetzel,  Lewis,  Indian  fighter,  226. 

Wheelock,  Dr.  Eleazar,  58;  acad 
emy  at  Lebanon,  Conn.,  223,  237. 

Whiting,  Major  Nathan,  at  Lake 
George,  147. 

William  of  Orange,  wars  with  Louis 
XIV.  1 ;  debt  of  England  to,  2. 

Williams,  Colonel  Ephraim,  death 
of.  at  Lake  George,  145. 

Williams,  Major  Thomas,  140. 

Wolfe,  General  James,  169,  180; 
Quebec  campaign,  184,  195; 
death,  195. 


THE   END 


281 


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